Crocodile Tears
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: 2B finds herself stranded in the middle of a surreal forest crawling with twisted sadists and nightmarish monsters. When she encounters an amnesia-stricken 9S, she sets out to investigate the two strangers who have taken advantage of his confusion. With her own memories either lost or disheveled, she struggles to figure out how she came to such a place and how to escape it.
1. Confusion

_Note: Stop! Before you read any further, I must stress the fact that this is a prequel to a separate story I'm working on. Crocodile Tears is part of the same family of stories taking place in the same world and at around the same time. The other two are Xibalba and Jade. They both follow their own plots, but Crocodile Tears acts as a side story to Jade with only a couple brief tie-ins with Xibalba._

 _This story is still a stand alone plot in of itself but revolves mostly around a handful of the characters seen in Jade. The primary reason I decided to turn what was a simple joke reference into its own story revolves mainly around the fact that Jade has a lot of unused content and locations. Crocodile Tears will act as a narrative tour for the numerous ideas that never made it to the story its based on._

 _For those of you who are not as familiar with the 'parent story' then this first chapter might leave you a bit lost. I'll go into more about why I chose to begin the story in such a weird and abrupt way in a future update. Until then, I do hope you all enjoy Crocodile Tears and I look forward to any feedback you may have._

* * *

 **Confusion**

Trees towered over 2B as she ran frantically across the forest floor. Above those citadels of bark was an endless canopy that completely blocked out the sky. In a normal environment, everything would be pitch black without the Sun's rays but the forest had a unique method for providing its own light.

Half of the plants she ran past were glowing. They radiated with neon light and washed everything around her in a bright, turquoise tint. Humidity was at an insane level which did not help make the tropical temperatures any more bearable. The only aspect of the weather showing any mercy at all was that cool mist showering down on her from far beyond the canopy.

Nothing about this forest was familiar. Even the air felt differently as she breathed it in and out. She could hear nothing but the sound of her feet pounding against the ground. Neither animal or insect made a peep out here and aside from the white-haired boy currently running away from her, she had not seen a single living organism roaming this seemingly endless ecosystem.

"9S," she called out. "Stop! You're just confused!"

"Stop following me," the boy shouted back as he bolted through the vegetation in a desperate attempt to conceal himself from her.

2B was constantly losing track of him in this maze of a forest. She was most certainly faster than him, but he seemed to have been planning out his routes. It was obvious to her that he was heading somewhere.

She was unable to convince him to stop fleeing from her. No matter what she said, it always seemed that it would make this situation worse. 2B could not remember a time when she saw him running away from her or anything else for that matter.

He took a sharp turn to the left and headed south. 2B immediately turned in that direction and tried to cut him off but he ended up heading east after a few seconds and the chase as it has been for awhile now resumed.

The boy kept running from her and never looked back. No matter what nonsense this crazy lady spewed, he knew he would not slow down for even a second.

" _Try to remember_ ," her voice echoed throughout the area. She sounded as if she were getting closer so the boy picked up his pace.

"It's me, 2B! Don't you remember?"

The boy ignored her pleas. She sounded as if she were finally beginning to fall behind. While a hasty decision, he decided to change directions one more time and run straight for his initial destination before this chase began.

* * *

The kid ran into an open field. Despite the lack of trees in the general vicinity, the canopy still managed to encroach upon the area and hide the forest floor from the skies above.

He felt a bit of security after entered this admittedly exposed area. As soon as he laid his eyes on the large manor perched on top of a hill up ahead, he let out a sigh of relief.

That little sigh was released a bit too early. The kid did not have time to celebrate his 'escape'. The sound of leaves rustling from behind caused him to turn around. His pursuer lunged from the brush and tackled him to the ground.

The two rolled across the grasp. The kid tried his best to fight her off, but in the end, she managed to pin him down after quite a struggle. The kid employed just about every strategy he could think of. This young woman calling herself '2B' was forced to use extreme caution when dealing with him. Anytime she got a bit too close, he attempted to headbutt her. He tried to kick her off and even bite her hands while they held his wrists down.

2B wondered if his next move would be to gnaw off his arms like a trapped coyote. Given the erratic and somewhat disturbing behavior he had displayed thus far, she did not put it past him. She kept a close eye on his every movement. She wanted to order him to calm down, but she had no desire to waste the energy when he could make another attempt to throw her off at any moment and bolt for that eerie mansion on the hill.

"That's enough! Just be still already and listen to me," she demanded after his violent struggles were reduced to merely squirming around on the ground while he contemplated another means of escape.

"What do you want," asked the kid.

"You've obviously lost your memory," 2B informed. "I'm trying to figure out how much you've forgotten. So, tell me. What's your name?"

"My name? It's Arnold."

She leaned away and looked down at him in astonishment. She wondered if he had just pulled a random name out of the ether or if he genuinely believed it. None the less, she was at least getting somewhere.

"You're serious? You think your name is Arnold? You'd better not be messing around, 9S."

"My name _is_ Arnold! And who the hell are you, anyway!?"

2B felt as though she was having a conversation with a man from another planet. Her memory had been rearranged and partially forgotten for a long time now. However, his appeared to be completely gone. A realization that was utterly heartbreaking.

She suddenly released him. This time, 'Arnold' did not immediately bolt upon being free to do so.

"Is there anything you remember," asked 2B. "Anything at all?"

The kid's expression softened ever so slightly. He glared at her while he carefully rubbed his wrist.

"Nothing concerning you, stranger," he retorted.

It was rather jarring to hear his unusual hostility. Nothing about the way he acted even came close to the person she once knew. The only similarities she could find were all in regards to his appearance. 2B even wondered if she had somehow gotten him confused with a different scanner. It was undeniable that this 'Arnold' looked identical to 9S, but their personalities were completely different.

She quickly dismissed the idea. He simply _had_ to be 9S. Who else could it possibly be?

"Your memory must be corrupted," 2B argued. "We need to find some way of restoring it. I have no idea where are Pods are, but I know there has to be a way to fix you even without them."

"Lady, you've got problems," Arnold proclaimed as he stood up and began dusting himself off. "I don't know who you are, and quite frankly, I don't _want_ to know. By the way, this is private property in case you haven't noticed so I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

Arnold then turned away and headed for the manor looming in the background. Nothing prevented 2B from following him to that creepy house. She wondered if he was the only one who lived on this property but when she tried to ask, the only response she got was a reminder that she was still on private property and was not at all welcome here.

He quickly started running again when he realized that she was still following him. 2B tried to prevent him from escaping again, but she failed this time around. As soon as he set foot inside, he threw the door shut in her face.

Despite initially being relieved when she finally found him, 'Arnold' was definitely beginning to wear down her patience. None the less, 2B knew he could not hide in this mansion forever. He would have to come out at some point and she would be waiting.

* * *

Arnold was immediately greeted by the emptiness of the entrance hall. In front of him was a decrepit staircase that led to the upper levels of this once great and luxurious house. He did his best to clean up some of these more elaborate areas. It was obvious to him that there was a hidden beauty in this place hidden under the layers of dust that had accumulated after years of neglect.

None of his attempts were ever successful but he tried none the less.

The kid quickly bolted for the nearest window. It was hard to see out of the filthy glass in front of him, but he did not need to strain himself to see that odd woman was still standing outside.

"Creep," he accused with a fearful shutter.

A familiar voice interrupted his aloud thoughts. It came from the living room which was situated to the left of the entrance hall. To the left was the dining room. Aside from his bedroom on the third floor, these were the only rooms Arnold had set foot in during the couple months he had spent living in this mansion.

" _Arnold_ ," the voice shouted. " _Is that you!? Come in here, man!_ "

He was genuinely amazed that his friend could hear him mumbling to himself from such a great distance, but he did not hesitate in following the request given to him.

* * *

Arnold bolted into the living room as if his life depended on it. Every room in the manor was always so poorly lit. There was never enough light to properly illuminate his path and as a result, he managed to trip over meaningless junk more times than he cared to count.

Were it not for the small candle shining a bit of light on a young man sitting in an old recliner across the room, Arnold would have probably missed him altogether.

He had white hair that was slightly longer than Arnold's. He wore an elaborate cloak that concealed a good portion of the rest of his archaic outfit.

The most bizarre aspect of the young man's appearance was the rattlesnake that was often coiled around his neck. Its scales were a vivid shade of cobalt. Along its back was a pattern that resembled black diamonds. This snake looked upon his environment with a pair of deep blue eyes. He also had those classic elliptical pupils that one would expect to see on either a snake or a cat.

"Robin! Ghiaccio," Arnold greeted. "Some crazy woman chased me all the way back home! She's still outside right now! I have no idea who she is but she's acting like she knows me! Who is this person!?"

Robin looked up from his book and glared at Arnold. While he looked as if he wanted to say something, the next words to be spoken did not be his.

The serpent tilted its head curiously as if it understood what he was saying. Then, it addressed his insane ramblings. Then, it parted its scaly lips and responded not in a mere his but in words that were as clear as day. The reptile spoke with well-articulated words. It communicated just as the average person would and had no trouble doing so.

"Whoa, slow down for a minute," the snake interjected. "Explain what happened because you're not making any sense."

"Sorry, Ghiaccio," Arnold apologized, not at all bothered by the fact that a snake had just spoken to him.

Arnold took a deep breath and did as told. "I went out about an hour ago just to pass the time. I was really bored and I thought getting out of the house would help. Then, this maniac in a blindfold comes out of nowhere and starts chasing me around with a couple huge swords. I've never met her before but she kept talking about all this crazy stuff like I knew what she was talking about. I tried running from her but she followed me all the way here and now she's waiting outside."

"Fantastic," Robin said with a long sigh. There was not a hint of emotion or enthusiasm in his voice, only sheer annoyance gave his words any weight. "You brought an armed stranger right to our doorstep. You're such a big help."

"I didn't mean to," Arnold argued.

" _You didn't mean to_ ," Ghiaccio replied in a mocking tone. "Just go upstairs for now. Robin and I will take care of it."

Robin closed his book and left it on his seat. He silently headed out of the room and towards the front door, ignoring Arnold's protests as he went.

"What? I can help! If we need to fight her off then I'll just go get my sword."

"Just go upstairs and stay there," Ghiaccio demanded. "When we're done, we'll call you down to bury the corpse."

Arnold did not bother arguing any further. With a loud sigh, he started off for the stairs, leaving Ghiaccio and Robin to deal with this newcomer.

Robin leaned against a nearby window where he quickly spotted the woman in question. She looked an awful lot like Arnold. They both had the same hair color, skin tone, and a very similar fashion sense.

This detail left Ghiaccio somewhat puzzled, but Robin thought nothing of it. He pointed at her with his dominant hand. Suddenly, small neon sigils began materializing out of thin air and surrounded his arm. The only thing to stop this process was Ghiaccio. The serpent called out to him, causing Robin to lower his arm for just a moment.

"Wait a minute! Let's not be so hasty, Robin. There are some questions that need answering."

"What do you want to know?"

Ghiaccio lifted his head high above Robin and stared out the window with boundless curiosity. He swiftly glanced towards the stairs to ensure that Arnold was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think it would be wise to hear her out," he spoke softly.

Robin slowly shook his head. "I cannot think of a reason why we should let this woman anywhere near Arnold. I warned you when we first found him lying on the ground near the cenote. We could tell him all the lies we want, but that doesn't change the fact that someone would probably come looking for him."

"Okay, you were right, I get it! No need to rub it in! I was just suggesting an idea I had. We could learn some interesting things from her. Then again, that's just my curiosity talking. Maybe it would be better just to kill her and bury her body in the backyard."

It was then when Ghiaccio reached his conclusion. An idea came to him. He twisted his lips into a devilish smile and his reptilian eyes went wide with intrigue.

"That's it!"

"What's _it_ ," asked Robin.

Ghiaccio let out an impish laugh after, once again, realizing his own apparent brilliance. "Okay, check this out. You want her dead and I want to find out what she knows, right?"

Robin nodded his head in anticipation for hearing Ghiaccio's idea.

"So why can't we do _both_?"

While confusing, Robin was at least interested in hearing Ghiaccio's actual proposal.

"Elaborate," the tactician ordered.

"Just follow my lead. By the end of the day, we'll both be happy."

* * *

2B tried knocking on the door, but no one came to answer her and she was unable to force her way inside without first destroying the door. She was on the verge of considering a more subtle means of gaining entry, but her plotting was interrupted by the abrupt sound of the front door creaking open.

She turned around to see a figure emerging from the mansion's dark interior. When the individual stepped into the light, she let out a relieved sigh.

"There you are, 9S. Are you going to listen to me now?"

Arnold closed the front door after exiting the manor. It was only after he had stepped into the light when 2B noticed the sword he was carrying. She took a few steps back and took up a defensive stance in response.

"Why," asked Arnold. "So you can fill my head with lies?"

"Put it down," 2B ordered in a stern tone. "There's no reason to fight. Just remain calm and think about what you're doing."

The response she received was less than ideal. 2B was forced to defend herself after he lunged at her. She drew one of the swords floating near her back. She narrowly avoided being beheaded in the process.

"Are your delusions worth dying for," asked Arnold. He kept his sword locked with hers. As much as she tried to find a safe means of backing off, he kept advancing on her, refusing to let her retreat.

Eventually, 2B mustered a bit of extra strength and forced him off of her. To her surprise, he did not immediately lunge at her. Instead, he put himself on the defensive, expecting her to make the next move.

She lowered her sword ever so slightly. She still anticipated him to attack her again. Judging by the look in his eyes, it was only a matter of time.

" _9S_ ," she demanded in somewhat frantic tone. "Pull yourself together! I'm trying to help you. My memories are hazy too. Something happened to use in between the time we were last conscious and when we arrived in this strange forest. I woke up on the ground in the middle of nowhere without my pod and with no idea about how I got here. The same probably happened to you too. Relax and explain all of this to me. Who told you that your name was Arnold? Who took advantage of your amnesia? What did they make you believe?"

Right on queue, a faint rattling sound entered her ears. She scanned her surroundings for its source. The sound eventually called her attention to the balcony above the mansion's entrance far behind Arnold.

Standing above them was a stranger wearing a cloak. A dark hood covered his head and enveloped his face in shadow. Sitting on the guardrails to his left was an oddly colored serpent. It was the first time she had ever seen a living snake. At this point in time, her memory of who she was beyond this neon lit forest is fuzzy, but she could not recall ever seeing such an animal until now.

To her horror, the reptile spoke. Despite not initially believing those strange words to have been said by the serpent, she could not deny what she was seeing. Even from this distance, she could clearly see the snake's lips moving in perfect synchronization with the words being spoken.

" _Arnold! Sic 'em!_ "

Like an attack dog, Arnold charged on command.

* * *

From the safety of the balcony, Robin and Ghiaccio observed the fight below. The serpent smiled as he watched them.

"That's it," he murmured to himself. "Fight! Fight until you're both on the ground and dead for all I care."

Robin leaned forward and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. He observed the fight with obvious boredom. While his body moved so lethargically during such an unimpressive battle, his brain was working at high speed, taking mental notes of each and every little detail about how this '2B' person defended herself.

He almost failed to hear Ghiaccio addressing him. Robin suddenly perked up and averted his attention to the serpent next to him.

"I'm sorry? What was that?"

" _Nothing_ ," Ghiaccio groaned. "I was wondering about something, though. If it would have been less trouble to just leave the kid out there instead of telling him all that bullshit just so we could get a little slave to clean up the mansion every once and awhile. Apart from fulfilling that one niche, the kid's utterly worthless. Maybe we should kill him too."

Robin offered no response, but Ghiaccio already knew his opinion on Arnold by now.

"You're too hard on the kid," Ghiaccio insisted despite recommending to have him killed mere seconds ago. "Don't forget that you too were not born in this forest. If I recall correctly. This always happens when you people from other worlds find yourself lost in my woods. Something steals part or all of your memory. What it doesn't take, it rearranges. It's part of the reason you newcomers die so quickly. Were it not for me, you'd be dead by now and so would he."

The tactician did not even attempt to dispute the serpent's point. With no reason not to continue, Ghiaccio rambled on.

"Try to think of it this way, Robin. At least we've got someone around here to keep the mansion tidy and that raises market value! See? There's always a bright side to everything!"

* * *

The situation was growing increasingly more desperate for 2B. She was not prepared to kill Arnold today, but if she stuck around any longer, there would be no other option if she wished to preserve her own life.

Without saying another word, she broke away from the fight as soon as possible. She ran across the grassy field and headed straight for the tree line ahead. At the last minute, she slid to a stop and looked back at Arnold.

He was not chasing her yet but she had a feeling that would change fairly quickly. 2B got one final look at the snake on the balcony and the man next to him.

All around her, plants twinkled with the same shade of neon blue. Between these glowing plants and that talking reptile looming over her, 2B knew she was a long way from the places she was accustomed to. It was disorientating, but regardless, she etched this location and that serpent's voice into her faulty memory.

She got one last look at Arnold as well. The one person she had hoped would remain consistent after losing herself in this maze of foliage was now acting like a completely different individual.

2B forced herself to leave him behind. She turned back around and fled in the opposite direction. At the moment, he was not going to listen to her. She would simply have to deal with him later, preferably, when he was completely alone.

Until that time came, 2B would hide in the brush surrounding the property where she would proceed to spend her time watching and waiting.

* * *

 _Note: During some of the earliest outlines of_ _Jade_ _, I had planned for it to take place in a proper rainforest. I eventually ditched the idea to go for a more mystical and slightly domestic setting, although, some readers might have noticed over time that I had been slowly moving back to a tropical setting. One of the latest chapters featured a rainstorm and I began adding little nuances about the weather being akin to that of a jungle._

 _I'm not entirely sure why I cut the rainforest setting. Mostly, I wanted to stay away from tropical fauna when describing the vistas._ _Jade_ _was a result of me attempting to create a setting that was both alien and domestic. Because of this, nothing could ever be too exotic. Some readers may recall a note I left in one of the earlier chapters where I mentioned that Ghiaccio was originally supposed to be a cobra. I decided instead to make him a rattlesnake. I imagine most people reading this story are going to see a rattlesnake in the wild long before they ever have the chance to see a cobra._

 _The forest went through the same changes. As I said previously, in earlier outlines, the forest was always supposed to feature either full on rain or a light mist. In the final release of Jade, it had only rained once and the storm was gone in the very next chapter. Here, you can expect it to be raining all the time._

 _Aside from the changes I made to the weather, there were several redesigns done to the characters. As I have already mentioned in one of the notes for Jade, Ghiaccio was originally meant to be more akin to that of a diamondback. I can't exactly remember why I cut the pattern on his back and made him solid blue, but it became a thing. _


	2. Schizoid

_Note: The only cut idea I brought back in this chapter was the balcony. It was seen in the first chapter as well, but I forgot to mention this. The mansion was never described to have a balcony in Jade._

 _Believe it or not, cutting the balcony was not a conscious decision. It's also mentioned briefly in Xibalba, but during the earliest chapters of Jade, I never included a scene in which Ghiaccio or Robin venture up to the balcony, and as a result, I just sorta forgot about it._

 _Also, the catfish thing was supposed to be a joke used in Jade as well but it was cut. The reason for this was because I just never got around to it._

* * *

 **Schizoid**

The manor had fallen quiet once again. For days, 2B watched the property. Even from such a great distance, she managed to occasionally eavesdrop on conversations between the residents as they exited the dark, looming house on the hill.

It did not take long for her to learn the names of the two people Arnold had chosen to live with. She saw the way they interacted with him and she was not too pleased with what she was seeing. All too often was Arnold treated as the runt of the house. He was normally the one to be bogged down with meaningless chores that seemed to only serve the purpose of keeping him busy.

This was one of the rare moments when he was not doing much of anything. She watched as Arnold balanced himself on the railing of the balcony. With his arms stretched out, he carefully walked back and forth. He kept this up for about five minutes before he grew bored and went back inside.

And just like that, 2B was left staring at a wall again.

* * *

Arnold found Ghiaccio sitting on the dining room table. As always, Robin was lurking in the same room.

Ghiaccio jolted up at the sight of Arnold. Robin noticed him enter the room but he was not interested enough in Arnold's presence to put down the book he was currently reading.

"Hey, kid! Where have you been," asked Ghiaccio.

Arnold pointed to the ceiling as he spoke. "I was just up on the balcony. I guess that crazy lady isn't coming back. It's been a couple days and I haven't seen any signs of her. Do you think we should check the surrounding area to see if she's spying on us?"

"I bet she's long gone by now," the serpent said in a dismissive tone. "If not then I'm sure Robin won't mind chopping her head off and mounting it on the wall."

"Do you guys know her or something," asked Arnold. "Did I know her at one point? I can't really imagine why someone would randomly approach me and start calling me by another name unless they are genuinely deranged."

"Of course we don't know her," Ghiaccio said with a sigh. "And neither do you. You said it yourself. She's fucking mental and if you aren't careful then you might end up getting assaulted again. Trust me, Arnold. No one knows you better than Robin and I. We've all been good friends for a long time and we'll get rid of that nasty case of amnesia you got. Now, on to more important stuff."

Ghiaccio nodded. "Catfish," he replied. "Robin and I are going to get ourselves some catfish. We're gonna cook up some bad ass fillets tonight! Found an old recipe in the attic that I've been looking for since like… forever!"

Arnold flinched at the mere thought of being left alone out here. This was a normal occurrence. Ghiaccio and Robin would set off to run a few errands and Arnold would have the manor all to himself. He normally relished in this, but with a certain blindfolded psychopath on the loose, he was not too keen on staying behind.

"Uh, I'll go with you guys."

"Nah, stay here," Ghiaccio said dismissively. "We need someone to watch the manor in case that loony cunt tries to break in and smear feces everywhere."

"That sounds oddly specific," Arnold hesitantly replied.

"Just do what I say! If you see her skulking around the property again then you have every right to scatter her entrails across my lawn!"

Arnold firmly nodded his head. "I'll do it!"

Pleased with the response, Ghiaccio smiled at the boy. "That's good. Just remember that she is one of many threats that wish to infiltrate and destroy our way of life. If we are to secure our property then we can show no mercy to those who wish to seize it."

* * *

The moment Robin stepped outside of the manor, Ghiaccio's mood took a turn for the worse. He hissed to himself. A reaction that immediately gained Robin's attention.

"Something wrong, Ghiaccio?"

Ghiaccio lifted his head up and scanned the surrounding area. When he was certain that no one was around, he twisted his body back towards Robin and glared at him.

"There's no way Arnold is human," Ghiaccio informed. "He's so fucking weird! Have you made eye contact with him at all since we plucked him out of the wilderness!? It's like he's got no soul. Every time I look at him, I feel like I'm seeing a corpse that's been reanimated or something. He's so creepy! And have you seen him talking to himself!? Sometimes he'll just stare at his own shadow and talk to it. He's fucked up in the head, man. I don't like it."

"Now that, I have not seen."

The serpent shuttered and quickly glinted at the window behind Robin. After seeing for himself that Arnold was still not eavesdropping, Ghiaccio spoke out.

He wanted to add to what was previously said, but Ghiaccio decided to remain silent. He did not want to remain standing right outside the manor all day, after all.

* * *

The mansion's kitchen was one of the many places Arnold hated to enter right alongside the second story which he had never set foot on and the cellar which he actively went out of his way to avoid.

Try as he might, there was not a single area of Ghiaccio's manor that was not without its strange occurrences and frightening atmosphere. Normally, when alone, Arnold tended to find a single room and lock himself in.

It was not that he had a fear of being alone, but the manor's atmosphere seemed to change when Ghiaccio and Robin were gone. For when those two were on the property, the same spirits that haunted these halls all simultaneously gained the courage to make their presence known.

Arnold tried to keep his mind off all of the weird bumps and moans that could be heard throughout the manor. He dusted off the counter in front of a filthy window. Small vines grew around the glass and encroached upon the counter. They also marked the next effort Arnold would take to make Ghiaccio's home a little more habitable.

Because of his endless curiosity, Arnold could hardly keep focused on such a boring little task. One that he had given himself, no less. It definitely seemed like a good idea for him to fix up the kitchen after Ghiaccio's promises of a catfish dinner, but then he recalled the fact that the kitchen was rarely ever used when they were preparing a meal.

Regardless of the apparent uselessness of his endeavor, he continued dusting the counter. His efforts were unabated until he heard the disturbing sound of the front door is open. Even from in the kitchen he could hear its eerie creaking.

His mind immediately jumped to what he saw as the most logical conclusion. Someone was intruding on Ghiaccio's home. Without giving it a second thought, Arnold grabbed the nearest knife and crept out of the kitchen, hoping to use the mansion's lack of light to his advantage.

* * *

Arnold kept to the shadows and advanced through the entrance hall. He could clearly see that the door had been opened as blue light was now flooding into the manor, but due to the stairwell being in his way, he was unable to see who had entered the house. He clenched the knife in his hands and pressed on.

He suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from up ahead. The sound of it brought a sense of relief and Arnold quickly lowered his knife.

"How the hell did we manage to forget the goddamn fishing rods before embarking on a fishing trip!?"

Ghiaccio's complaint echoed throughout the haunting entrance hall. The grating sound of his frustration was like music to Arnold's ears after he had worked himself up.

He stepped out of hiding and spotted Robin standing in the doorway with that usual scowl on his face. Ghiaccio was not looking much happier this time around and thanks to his very vocal complaints, Arnold knew exactly why.

"Forget something?"

Ghiaccio perked up after Arnold's remark. The serpent shot a glare in his direction and slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah," Ghiaccio replied. "Can't really catch catfish without a rod, right? Say, you mind helping us out? I think we left it up in the attic and you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to get up there."

"It's hot up there," added Arnold. "But yeah, I wasn't doing much anyway."

While he pretended to be thankful with that forced smile of his, Ghiaccio would have most certainly not tolerated having his request be rejected.

Robin stepped inside and closed the door. He then released a long and defeated groan at the prospect of entering the dreaded attic. The mere thought was exhausting.

In an oh-so gloomy tone, he spoke. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

Robin's frustration was swiftly felt by the other two residents of the manor as it was always a hassle to enter the attic. The hatch could always be pulled down by a convenient rope, although it did not exactly fulfill the 'convenience' aspect of the role as the rope was always just out of reach of Robin. It was one of many flaws the mansion had.

The most difficult task, however, was finding anything at all in the mess that was the attic. The only thing Arnold found even remotely enjoyable about searching through the attic was occasionally finding old trinkets and photos that left him with more questions than answers. As soon as he set foot in the sweltering room, he spotted one such item.

Lying on the floor near his feet was a framed photograph. It depicted a black and white image of a serpent sitting among a group of darkly dressed soldiers. This scene captivated his curiosity and Arnold suddenly forgot all about the real reason he followed them up here.

While Robin and Ghiaccio headed deeper into the attic, Arnold approached the photograph cautiously. He picked it up off of the ground and examined the image. On closer inspection, Arnold could clearly see that the people surrounding Ghiaccio did not look very human.

They had long, pointy ears, sharp carnivorous teeth, and long claws. He would have continued to sit and stare at the photo were it not for a shadow suddenly enveloping him. Arnold looked up to see Robin looming over him with a disapproving frown.

"What was the reason for us coming up here again," asked Robin.

Arnold placed the picture back on the ground where he found it and stood up. "Uh, we came here to get the fishing rod," he nervously answered.

The commotion briefly gained Ghiaccio's attention, but the serpent decided to ignore them both.

"Does that look like a fishing rod?"

"No," Arnold said with a firm shake of his head. "Sorry, I'll get back to looking."

Satisfied with the response, Robin walked away from him. Not a second later and they both heard Ghiaccio's satisfied shouting coming from across the attic.

"Found it!"

* * *

Hiding behind that same bush, 2B never took her eyes off of the manor. She found it beyond frustrating that the two other residents left for a few minutes only to return right when she was about to make another advance on the property.

She wondered how long it would take for anyone to leave the mansion for an extended period of time. How many days would go by before she was given another opportunity to make contact with Arnold again remained unclear to her?

All was silent up until now. 2B saw no signs of movement on the property and the world around her remained perfectly still. That was how it had been since she found herself aimlessly roaming through this alien forest. Naturally, when she heard someone speaking to her from behind, she nearly jumped clear out of her skin.

" _Looks like we're both in the same situation._ "

2B twirled around and placed a hand over one of the swords floating near her back. She lowered her guard upon making eye contact with this interloper. This woman's appearance was enough to raise a few questions in of itself.

She had blue hair, a matching cobalt uniform, a long cape, and wore a glistening tiara. Needless to say, she was not the type of person 2B expected to come across out here. Given this stranger's lack of hostility, 2B settled down, releasing her grip on her sword and turned back to face the manor.

"Who are you," asked the android.

"My name's Lucina. Yours?"

"2B."

Lucina stepped up and took a seat next to her new acquaintance. She kept her eyes focused on the eerie entrance ahead.

"What an interesting name," Lucina proclaimed. "I take it you know that boy? Arnold is his name, right?"

"It most certainly is not," 2B said in a gloomy tone. "His name is 9S. I don't know where this 'Arnold' comes from. Those two must have planted it his head. As soon as I catch him alone, I'm going to beat his memories back into him. That's how it works, right? You hit someone really hard on the head and they suddenly remember everything?"

Lucina shuddered at the idea. It definitely would not have been _her_ first thought. "I'm not sure if it works like that. Judging by what you just said though, I assume I was right about you. Where are you from because you don't act like you're too familiar with this forest."

2B firmly shook her head. "I'm not. I don't know how we got here, but 9S and I are trapped here. He doesn't even recognize me and I'm having trouble fully remembering everything about myself. I woke up underneath a tree, all alone and totally lost. I still can't find a way out of here and I've been running around this place for weeks. If that wasn't enough of an inconvenience, my pod is gone which means I have no means of contacting the Bunker."

Once again, Lucina found herself struggling to follow everything that 2B was saying. She could only guess what this 'pod' was or where this bunker could possibly be.

"Sounds a lot like what happened to me," Lucina added, ignoring those bizarre terms for now. "I can't remember much of anything anymore. It comes and goes every now and again, but my memory is starting to fail me. I've been lost for months. For Robin, I assume he's been out here for much longer. Ghiaccio completely changed his personality. He probably remembers about as much as I do. We used to be close friends, but now he's a totally different person. He used to smile and laugh all the time, but that just isn't the case anymore. I'm almost positive Ghiaccio is doing the same to your friend that he did to mine."

"That quiet guy in the hood, you mean," 2B inquired. "You know him?"

Lucina nodded in confirmation. She abruptly stood up but made sure to keep herself hidden behind a nearby tree.

The silence between the two ladies would have probably continued for a long time, had another question not crossed 2B's artificial mind.

"Earlier, you mentioned 9S. You called him Arnold. Have you interacted with him before?"

"I have," Lucina answered. "I use to visit with Ghiaccio and Robin a lot. I tried to convince him to help me find a way back home. Our fellow Shepherds are probably fighting to defend House Ylisse as we speak, but he wants nothing to do with it anymore. He kept calling Ghiaccio's manor his new home and after awhile, I stopped being a welcome guest. They chased me away every time I set foot on the property. Since then, I've kept to the shadows like you are doing. I met Arnold not long ago after I realized that he had moved in. I tried to prevent him from ending up like Robin but I failed in that regard as well."

Now, it was 2B's turn to be confused by Lucina's wording. She wanted to pick her brain about what kind of life she led before winding up trapped in this mysterious forest, but she refrained. What held her interest was learning more about this alleged root of all evil as Lucina seemed to be hinting at.

"What else can you tell me about that talking snake?"

"Unfortunately, no," Lucina regrettably informed. "However, I do know of someone who has had first-hand experience with Ghiaccio. She's a hermit living in an abandoned town. It's a bit of a walk from here, but I can tell you how to get there if you want to hear her story."

2B hesitated but eventually responded with a slow shake of her head. "I can't leave 9S here."

As much as she wanted to meet this person, she had no desire to travel even further away from the mansion.

"I can keep an eye on him while you're gone," Lucina swiftly proclaimed. "I'll make sure nothing happens. I spoke with her for a short time, but I cannot tell you tell you nearly as much as she can. Your best bet is to meet with her yourself. It will be a long walk from here, but the route is simple enough. All you need to do is head north until you reach the river. It's a straight hike from here. Then turn west and follow the river until you reach a lake. You'll run into the ghost town she calls home pretty quickly after that."

"Can I trust you to watch over him," 2B bluntly inquired.

Lucina sighed at the reasonable question. She knew that such a concern would not easily be quelled even if she were to demonstrate Ghiaccio's hostility towards her.

"Then stay here and observe," Lucina retorted. "You'll learn just as much as I have, and that isn't much. He's very good at hiding his intentions but I assure you they are anything but friendly."

2B stood up off the ground and continued to gaze at the rundown mansion. She considered Lucina's offer for a moment. Neither of her two choices seemed to be flawless. Either she leaves to learn more about Ghiaccio and hopefully find a means of fixing her lost companion in the process, but leaving him totally alone in the process or remain as she is now and risk losing out on any vital information.

"Okay, I'll go meet this person," she announced with much reluctance. "If they haven't harmed 9S as of yet then they probably aren't going to anytime soon. That being said, I want you to come with me. The last thing I want you to do is to go and alert them that I won't be keeping watch over him. Forgive me for not being so trusting, but after having my closest companion raising his sword against me, I do not want to wind up being taken for a fool."

"I can show you the way," Lucina agreed. "I'd like to visit Lyn again, anyway. I want to make sure she's doing okay out there, but this is still a bit out of my way. I must ask a favor of you in return."

"What do you want?"

Lucina hesitated at her bluntness, but she did not waste too much of her time thinking about how to word her request.

"I'm trusting you with her location just as you're going to have to trust me to lead you there safely. All I ask is that you not utter her name to anyone else. She's miserable enough as it is, and if Robin and Ghiaccio find out about her location, they'll hunt her down and kill her for sure."

Such a concept would have never even occurred to 2B had it not have been mentioned. Naturally, it was an easy favor to agree upon.

She nodded her head, staring at Lucina with a pair of emotionless eyes hidden behind that odd blindfold.

"Fine. You have a deal."

* * *

 _Note: Something that crossed my mind while I was working on earlier versions of this story was revamping the setting even further from the 'rainforest stage'. Initially, Jade was meant to have taken place inside a city which was nestled in the middle of a forest. That city eventually went on to be a location Robin and Ghiaccio travel to whereas the forest acts as the primary setting. I decided against doing this, as it would not make much sense to completely alter the setting. Sure, Ghiaccio looks slightly different, but that's a far cry from retconning the entire world. _

_There were also points in which I considered including the cut 'sky bridges' which were essentially glass walkways that rose above the canopy. While they would have been interesting, I removed them when I made the decision to completely remove the sky from the setting entirely. I figured it would ruin the atmosphere of both Jade and Crocodile Tears if I let 2B go running around above the canopy for any extended period of time._

 _Another location that I wanted to include, but simply could not, was the coast. The coast was supposed to be a location reached only at the end of Jade. At that time, I still wanted to work with the whole 'eternal forest' idea and eventually went with that as opposed to one large landmass covered by the canopy. There were also times when I was writing some of Jade's earlier chapters and briefly considered bringing the coast back. I thought of ways in which either Lucina or Chrom could stumble upon it, or perhaps have Ghiaccio mention it in passing but all of these ideas were scrapped in favor of keeping the canopy._


	3. The Old Days

**The Old Days**

Robin loomed over a cenote with his fishing rod cast into the darkness, waiting for something to attack the bait on the other end of the line.

Ghiaccio laid on the ground next to him. In silence, the two sat on the edge of this massive sinkhole. They listened to the odd sounds coming from below. Normally, the forest was dead quiet, but after spending an hour fishing and Ghiaccio claimed to have heard voices. Since then, they had kept quiet and remained on alert.

After awhile, they could both hear distant talking that sounded as if it were coming from somewhere in the cenote. Upon realizing this, Ghiaccio lifted his head upward and whispered in Robin's ear.

"Okay, there's definitely someone trapped down there! I don't think they noticed it when we cast our line out, though."

Robin leaned forward, but he could see no one. While he could hear the same muffled words that Ghiaccio was listening to, he could not determine what was being said.

"How deep does this hole go," asked Robin.

"Enough to make it difficult for us to eavesdrop on whoever is talking down there," Ghiaccio said with a frustrated sigh. "What do you want to do? Should we ignore it and keep fishing or..."

Before Ghiaccio could finish that thought, the voices below suddenly amplified into a disturbing scream. This time, Ghiaccio could not complain about being unable to hear what was being said.

" _Brother! Please wake up!_ "

Robin immediately lifted his legs out of the cenote and scooted away from the edge. Ghiaccio peaked into the darkness, but as he should have expected, he saw nothing.

The viper glinted at Robin, curiously. When he turned back to the cenote, Ghiaccio shouted in response. "Who's down there!?"

He could not say for certain why he felt compelled to respond at all. Anyone trapped down in the cenote was usually as good as dead. There was no way to climb out as the walls were curved inward and lined with sleek limestone. Regardless, Ghiaccio waited for the trapped soul to give him a reply.

"Is someone there," the voice yelled back.

"Up here, dickweed," Ghiaccio irritably exclaimed.

There was another moment of silence. Ghiaccio listened closely for a reply, but no such thing came. Instead, the unexpected happened.

A hand abruptly launched out of the darkness. The fingers sunk into the ground, clinging to the turquoise grass. Ghiaccio bolted up Robin's arm and coiled around his neck. Robin then stood up and watched the arm at his feet.

A figure soon pulled itself out of the cenote and onto the forest floor. The figure came into the neon light, revealing itself to be a shirtless man with white hair and red eyes. His hands were hidden beneath a pair of bizarre looking gloves and his right arm was covered by a sleeve of strange tattoos.

Ghiaccio started rattling his tail at the sight of this man. He had just thought about the impossibility of escaping such a deep cenote only to have his expectations betrayed mere seconds later.

"Identify yourself," Robin demanded as he moved his hand closer to the sword that had been well concealed beneath his robe.

Ghiaccio was on the verge of making some quip about the man's appearance just as Robin was about to slice his arm off and send him straight back into the depths from whence he came, but they both stopped themselves. They heard his pathetic sniveling. They noticed the tears rolling down his eyes. Normally, the sight of a grown man crying was just another reason for Ghiaccio launch a torrent of verbal abuse at this poor soul, but he and Robin fell silent as the stranger spoke to them.

" _Please_ ," the stranger pleaded. His tone was frantic and shaken. He struggled to breathe while he sobbed. "It's my brother. He's lying down there and he won't get up! I know he's alive. He's breathing and everything. He's just sleeping but he refuses to wake up. What is this place? How did we get here? Why is my brother alive? Why won't he respond!? Tell me! Whoever you are, just tell me! If you wake him up then I'll be forever in your debt!"

Were it not for that last sentence Ghiaccio would have easily ordered Robin to kill this man and they would have resumed their hunt for catfish without a second thought. Luckily for the sobbing individual barely clinging to the ground, Ghiaccio had a better idea.

Due to his silence, Robin glanced in Ghiaccio's direction, wondering if he should go ahead and attack or not. He was taken aback by the expression on Ghiaccio's face.

The snake smiled at the man below. Robin recognized that cruel smile. He remembered seeing it when they first met Arnold. It was the same smile Robin saw when he too encountered Ghiaccio for the first time. He relaxed his stance and let Ghiaccio managed the situation alone from then on.

"You poor thing," Ghiaccio so mischievously said. There was not a hint of sympathy or compassion in his tone. Only excitement. "Don't worry. Robin and I will help you. Is your brother down there as well?"

The stranger grew silent and nodded slowly, like an upset child who was slowly recovering from a temper tantrum.

"Then bring him up here if you can," Ghiaccio advised. "We'll get him back on his feet in no time."

"Thank you," the man exclaimed. He relinquished his grip on the ground and fell back into the cenote to carry out Ghiaccio's wishes.

As soon as he was gone, Robin spoke out. "What are you planning and why do you need a total stranger's help?"

"Everyone starts out as a total stranger," Ghiaccio reminded. "When I saw you barely clinging to life, starving to death on the ground, I thought to myself, 'he deserves better than this.' I see that same desperation in his eyes, and desperation is useful. So too is a man with the ability to jump out of a cenote like that."

"You think he's from another world like Arnold and me," asked Robin.

Ghiaccio nodded his head. "Definitely. Everyone who arrives here does so in their sleep. It happened to Arnold and I'm sure you experienced the same."

"A moment ago, you hinted at using him," said Robin. "What is your plan?"

Ghiaccio hesitated in giving his answer, but his cruel smile never faded. His confidence remained unbroken despite the difficult inquiry. "Let me assess the situation. We'll figure something out for them. After all, I'm not a philanthropist. If we're going to do a good deed, then ain't gonna be for free. That sniveling freak basically just sold me his soul. I'll make him regret it."

* * *

Arnold crept through the halls of the third floor. He waited in the dining room for awhile after Ghiaccio and Robin left for the second time. He had to be certain that they would not return. Once a certain amount of time had passed, Arnold decided to make his way back up into the attic.

The boy could not get that picture out of his head. Monsterous was the only way he could describe the people around Ghiaccio in that photo. Their sharp teeth and pointy ears were graphed onto his mind. If there was anything else relating to those strange people, he wanted to find it as well.

He picked up his pace once the stepping stool was in sight. Something had been following him since he embarked on this quest. He could hear a separate set of footsteps apart from his own, but every time he stopped and turned around, everything went silent and there was no one to be seen. It was just another ghost that resided in the manor, but as common as these paranormal occurrences were, he was never able to get used to them.

Arnold rushed through the attic and went through the same old annoying process of accessing its inconvenient entrance. He climbed into the sweltering uppermost level of the mansion and quickly went to work.

He first took up the photograph that originally captured his interest, but instead of examining it in the miserable attic, he threw it in the direction of the entrance where the photo gently floated down into the hallway below.

He then began searching for anything similar. Oddly enough, the more he searched that one particular corner of the attic, the more he found. There were several boxes of photos. The grand majority of these photos were taken in a sepia monochrome, but he occasionally saw a few black and white ones.

While this did act as a vague indicator as to which photos were taken more recently, these tones suggested not much else. He only glanced at a few of them, but most of his efforts were spent stacking the boxes next to the attic's entrance. Once he had acquired a few boxes, he carefully dropped them one by one into a new stack in the hall below. After that was taken care of, he leaped downward and retreated to his room with the numerous photos.

* * *

Arnold sat on his bed and took out a random handful of photographs from one of the three boxes he collected.

"All right," he told himself. "Surely I'm in a couple of these. If I can see myself in the past, maybe I'll be able to remember the time Ghiaccio, Robin, and I all spent together before I lost my memory."

Suddenly, something came to him. He looked up from the first photo he chose to examine and thought to himself.

" _Wait a minute_ ," he contemplated. "This is such an obvious solution. Why didn't Ghiaccio and Robin ever tell me about all these photos up here? They could have let me look at them from the beginning and I probably would be remembering everything by now."

He ignored the very valid inquiry, immediately assuming that there was some greater meaning behind them hiding these photos and took it upon himself to see what secrets the past held from him.

The first photograph he selected was one of the many sepia toned images he seized from the attic. It featured a group of people he did not recognize. They looked human, unlike the picture he saw earlier. However, no one aside from Ghiaccio was smiling in this picture. They all looked rather depressed. Arnold shifted his attention to the background, but he could not figure out where it was taken.

"Who are these people," he asked in a whisper. He tried to remember if any of their faces were familiar to him, but they were not.

He eventually gave up and moved on to another photo, then another, and another. They all followed a similar theme. Ghiaccio was always at the center of the shot. Around him was either a small group of strangers or those same long-eared creatures that he saw in the first photo.

Arnold soon came to the last picture in this stack and it was rather disturbing. He was not expecting to come across something such as this, but alas, he could not deny what he was seeing. As usual, Ghiaccio was smiling as if all were well. The center of the picture. Nothing was out of the ordinary there, but when glinted at the background, he saw the fuzzy image of a person lying on the ground. He could not figure out if they were dead or not, but they were indeed lying face down in the dirt.

He quickly dropped that photo and set it to the side in its own place, away from the ones he had already looked at. Before he came back to it, he wanted to see if there was anything else like it.

As Arnold bent over the side of his bed to take out another stack, he noticed what appeared to be a book halfway buried underneath the different photos.

Out of curiosity, he ignored everything else and reached for the book. Upon liberating it from its cardboard prison, he placed it on the bed, instantly realizing it was not a book at all but a photo album. Something he probably should have expected to see in a box such as this.

Arnold opened the album and read over a small but important title page. The words were shocking. He read over them once silently and flinched. He widened his eyes and stated the title of the album aloud just to make sure that he was not seeing things.

"The Conquest of the Makise Manor."

Arnold felt compelled for obvious reasons to turn the page. He was immediately greeted by a series of black and white photographs all pasted into the book. The first one depicted Ghiaccio sitting in the lap of a dark-haired man Arnold could not recognize. He sat on the ground. All around him were a group of strange humanoid creatures. Much like a majority of the other people seen Ghiaccio's photos so far, they were relatively human. The only issue was the long claws and sharp teeth. The people in this album all lacked the elf-like ears he had seen previously.

The most bizarre of these people was a young woman standing above the man in the center of the frame. She had long hair and a face hidden behind an ominous mask that resembled a sort of monstrous rabbit with vampiric fangs. Both of her hands were planted on the man's shoulders while she gazed at the camera with her mask covering her eyes.

Both of these individuals wore a lab coat as if they had just finished an experiment of some sort. Surrounding them were a group of unlikely companions. A hefty man with rectangular glasses, and a meek woman who appeared to be intentionally looking away from the camera. Just next to her was a girl with the complete opposite attitude. She smiled brightly, not having a care in the world.

The others in this photo were equally unique in their own ways with the smiles that suggested everything about their attitudes on that particular day to the way they dressed.

The background was just as interesting as the people in the picture. He recognized it as soon as he saw it. The same mansion he now lived in. These people were all standing together just outside of the manor.

Arnold took a special interest in how well the property appeared to be cared for at that time. The lawn was kept under control. There was no overgrowth trying to reclaim the walls of the house or erosion present. The entire property looked far more inviting to Arnold at whatever time this photo was taken.

He wanted to keep looking through this album as he knew he was only scratching the surface of the manor's past, but a voice calling to him caused him to drop the album in shock.

Ghiaccio's voice came echoing into his room without warning and caused him to jump up out of bed.

" _Arnold! Get off your lazy ass and come give us a hand down here!_ "

In a panic, Arnold slid the boxes underneath his bed with his foot. He then opened the door and leaned out into the hall.

"Coming," he shouted back.

As much as it disappointed him, he would have to find another time to quench his thirst for knowledge of the past.

* * *

Arnold ran down the stairs and into the entrance hall. He looked around for the others, but he could not see them. He then decided to rely on sound to find his companions. He could hear Ghiaccio's voice coming from the living room and quickly bolted in that direction.

Upon entering the living room, he noticed an unfamiliar face in the mansion. A man with white hair knelt over the sofa while Robin stood next to him with Ghiaccio sitting on his shoulders as usual. He could see that someone else was lying on the sofa, but he had a hard time getting a good look at the man from this angle.

"Hey," he asked nervously. "What's going on? We have visitors?"

Everyone turned to face him. The stranger next to Robin stood up and twirled around only to adopt an extremely hateful expression upon locking eyes with Arnold. A detail that went unnoticed by both Ghiaccio and Robin.

"Oh, there you are, Arnold," the serpent announced. "I'd like you to meet our new friend, Eve. _Wait,_ was it Eve or Adam?"

Ghiaccio turned to Eve with a quizzical look and quickly noticed the death stare he was giving Arnold.

"Uh… anyway," Ghiaccio slowly spoke in a cautious tone. "I called you down here to ask if you'd be willing to continue fishing while we deal with these newcomers? We left the rod down by the cenote. All you've gotta do is hang out there for awhile and check the line every now and then."

Hesitantly, Arnold nodded in agreement.

Ghiaccio smiled with approval. "Good, then get going. Oh, and don't waste too much time down there. If you haven't found anything in the next couple hours then just come on back. I still have no idea if there are any catfish actually down there or not."

"All right, I'll get on that," Arnold said with a wave. As he headed for the entrance hall, Arnold glinted over his shoulder to Eve who was still giving him that disturbing death stare. In order to quell the awkward and somewhat frightening atmosphere. "It was nice meeting you Eve. I guess."

With that, he bolted out of the room. Shortly after the group heard the front door open and close, Ghiaccio immediately turned to Eve and glared at him.

"Okay, spill it. What's up with you, man? You looked like you wanted to rip Arnold's arms off or something."

"I know him," Eve proclaimed, not taking his eyes off of the entrance hall. "He's one of the two androids that killed my brother!"

Ghiaccio could only think of one way to respond to such a claim. " _What?_ "

Robin glanced back at Adam to make sure he was still breathing. Surely enough, he was not dead as his brother was insisting. He lied there, completely unharmed and lost in a tranquil sleep.

"His name isn't Arnold. It's 9S, I believe," Eve explained. "How could you let someone like him into your home?"

Robin took a particular interest in that strange name. He had heard it before, and it did not take long for him to figure out where he heard it from. "There's that name again," he interjected. "That woman with the blindfold referred to Arnold in a similar fashion. There seems to be a reoccurring theme here."

"You're right," Ghiaccio agreed. "All right, Eve. Since you owe us and all, I think you can start repaying your debt by telling us what you know about Arnold, or whoever the fuck he is. I want to know _everything_."

* * *

 _Note: The idea of certain humans have a more monstrous appearance was never an idea to cross my mind until some of the more recent chapters of Xibalba. There's a reason for it, but I won't go into it here just to avoid minor spoilers. Essentially, what you saw with that photo album was a brief reference to Xibalba. It was originally supposed to be encountered by Tharja in Jade, but this scene was scrapped._

 _The people I was vaguely describing were the main characters of Steins;Gate, albeit, horrific alternate versions of them but still the same people. There were times when I intended to refer to the mansion as the Makise Manor in Jade as well, but I changed this since I felt it would be out of character for Ghiaccio to refer to what is now 'his' property as such. Another reason was that I did not want Jade and Xibalba to be too intertwined. I often gave extremely vague hints about who owned the mansion before Ghiaccio moved in, but nothing more._

 _Another thing that's worth mentioning is Adam and Eve's involvement. This was actually an afterthought. I debated with myself for a long time but given that Ghiaccio is a talking snake who is incredibly good at deceiving people, I felt like it would have been a disservice to not include them._


	4. The Freak

_Note: 9S came damn close to being named Oscar. However, at last-minute, I decided to scrap that name and come up with something that has a little more historical relevance. Thus, 9S was renamed 'Arnold' as in Benedict Arnold. The man whose name became synonymous with treachery when he betrayed the Continental Army._

* * *

 **The Freak**

It was made perfectly clear to 2B that quite a long journey was ahead, but she was not expecting to walk for five hours straight, ask how much further they had to walk, and still be told that they were only halfway to the river.

From what Lucina had hinted at, there was a lot more walking to be done after they reached this far away river. As more time passed, her patience gradually wore down.

2B was already contemplating the possibility that Lucina had gotten them both lost and was merely keeping quiet about it. She felt as if she were walking in one big circle over and over again. The trees, the plants, and the canopy all looked identical. They were blurring together into one big neon mesh. For awhile, she stopped paying attention to her surroundings altogether.

When she finally awoke from her daydreaming, she stopped and took a look around. They were still walking in a straight line. They were still surrounded on all sides by alien vegetation.

2B spoke in a sharp tone. The unexpected sound of 2B's voice caused Lucina to jump slightly before she realized who was talking.

"Are we there yet?"

"No, sorry," Lucina informed. She adopted a forced smile and gave 2B a friendly nod. "We're only halfway to the river. Like I said, it's really far from Ghiaccio's manor."

"How far?"

Lucina thought to herself for a moment. She contemplated the handful of times she went back and forth from the mansion to the river. It was not a trip she made often mostly due to the length of it, as well as a lack of purpose for going most of the time.

"I'd say it's about a day's walk," Lucina concluded.

2B let out a frustrated groan as she continued walking. "This better be worth the effort."

* * *

Eve sat at the dining table while Robin stared at a book on the other side of the table. Ghiaccio sat at the center of the table, glaring at Eve.

The two residents of the manor made sure to explain the situation with Arnold with hopes that he would help perpetuate the lies Ghiaccio and Robin had told Arnold about his identity. A request that Eve agreed to adhere to without question. After that, it was Eve's turn to explain himself. A process that would prove extremely time-consuming.

Robin gave up on trying to wrap his brain around Eve's fantastical story of mechanical beings warring with each other on a desolate world. He had no means of comprehending such a bizarre idea nor did he have any interest in straining himself over it. Ghiaccio, on the other hand, was at least somewhat familiar with this concept.

They listened to him drone on for hours. Ghiaccio was quick to spot the areas where Eve's memory could not be relied upon. There were plenty of holes in his story, but he did not hold this against the so-called 'android'. A term that, until now, Ghiaccio had only heard in movies and books.

"That's really all I remember," Eve concluded. A long period of silence followed the end of his little story, but such silence was destined to be broken so long as a certain talkative snake was around.

"Holy shit," Ghiaccio stated with wide eyes. His tone was so surprising that even Robin felt compelled to look up from his book to see what all the commotion was about.

"I just realized something after all this time," the serpent continued. "I'm so hungry. You guys hungry too or is it just me?"

Robin slowly shook his head and continued reading. Eve had a similar response.

"Oh, well," Ghiaccio went on. He then slithered off the table and fell to the floor. "I'm going out to find something."

"You realize that Arnold will probably be returning soon with the catfish you so crave," Robin warned. "Besides, are you really going to neglect this newfound information. What are we to do about that woman we saw a few days ago? This '2B' person."

Ghiaccio huffed at his comment. "Fuck him! I'm taking the initiative! When I get back, we'll figure out our next move."

With that, Ghiaccio slithered out of the room in search for something to eat. Something that was hopefully not fermenting in the age-old dust that coated the interior of his mansion.

As soon as he left, Eve spoke up.

Robin let out an annoyed sigh. He folded one of the corners of the page he was currently on and closed the book. It was obvious that he was not going to get a moment's peace so he simply gave up trying.

"You remind me of Adam," he announced quietly. "He would always sit at the table and read books with me. When we were done learning, he would set aside some time for us to play together."

"Sounds great," Robin said dismissively.

That was exactly where Eve noticed a significant difference between his brother and Robin. There was no care or emotion in Robin's tone. He ignored the world around him and remained ultimately detached from anything apart from the book currently in his hands.

"Will you play with me? At least until my brother wakes up," he inquired, already anticipating a disappointing answer. When he finally got it, Eve was left wondering why he even bothered to ask.

"No."

With no other reason to stick around in this lonely room, Eve too decided to leave. He stood up from his chair and silently walked out of the dining room.

At long last, Robin could enjoy his book in utter solitude and he would have it no other way. This time would come to an abrupt halt. It irritated Robin to no end when Eve suddenly poked his head in the dining room after he should have left.

"Ghiaccio just came back," Eve announced. "He says he wants you to go and find 9S or whatever you've named him."

Robin dropped his book on the table and slowly rose up out of his seat. It was a painful act, but he managed to tear himself away from his state of relaxation. Clearly, the entire world was working against him.

* * *

While Ghiaccio had warned Arnold not to spend too much time down at the cenote, he could not resist the urge to keep fishing with the hopes of finding something that would impress the snake. He reeled in a new fish. This time, he had high hopes that it was exactly what he came here for. Of course, his hopefulness only propped him up for total disappointment when he found a small snapping turtle at the end of his line.

It was then when Arnold absolutely lost it. His smile quickly turned into a wrathful frown. Arnold suddenly yanked the turtle from the hook and threw it to the ground. The turtle's shell cracked open as it tumbled over the edge and fell back into the water.

Arnold then tossed his fishing rod to the side and turned around. He planted his hands on the ground and stared at the faint shadow being cast over the grass. "It's your fault," he exclaimed.

He pressed his ear against the ground and listened for a response, but his shadow had nothing to say to him.

"Not going to say anything are you," asked Arnold. "You never do, but I know what you're planning! There's a conspiracy going on and I know you're behind it! You and that stranger who trespassed on our land a few days ago!"

Arnold would have gone further with this bizarre argument he insisted on having with his own shadow, but someone interrupted him. He jumped at the sound of an unfamiliar female voice speaking to him from afar.

" _Pod 153 reporting. Proposal: Unit 9S should state his status_ _and_ _intentions._ "

As soon as he heard that false name, Arnold's head snapped upward and his eyes darted in the direction of the voice. They were filled with anger. He assumed it was that woman he saw a few days ago. He was in for a pleasant surprise when he learned that this was not the case at all.

Floating above the ground was what Arnold could easily describe as an abomination of metal. A black box with two sets of arms underneath its rectangular body. A red mechanism was planted on the top of this creature along with several other red markings on its freakish arms.

He reached for his sword, mentally thanking himself for his foresight to bring it along. As he rose to his feet, the mechanical entity floated back to clear a bit more distance.

"Please state user intentions," the entity repeated itself.

"What are you," asked Arnold. "What sort of aberration are you!?"

The creature floated in place for a few seconds as if pondering an answer to what should have been a simple question.

"I am Pod 153, designed to support Unit 9S on all missions assigned by Command. Hypothesis: Unit 9S has experienced memory corruption. Immediate restoration of memory banks is recommended."

Arnold did not give much thought about what the entity was saying. Anyone who would dare call him by that ridiculous name did not deserve his time. Gripping his sword tightly, he charged forward and shouted in rage.

"Another conspirator trying to take advantage of my amnesia!? Come on then! I'll tear you to pieces, monster!"

" _Warning_ ," the robot proclaimed as Arnold drew closer. "Mental instability detected. Possible result of memory loss. Please remain calm until all memory data has been restored."

Arnold suddenly felt a shock wave erupt from the depths of his twisted mind. He collapsed to his knees. The familiar turquoise glow of the ethereal forest he called home began to fade away. The tropical humidity, the mist that poured down from the canopy, and even the feeling of grass beneath his feet all simultaneously retreated from his senses. He cursed and swore at the metal demon that had put him under this spell but it was all for not. Arnold lost consciousness all to quickly and was cast away into the realm of dreams.

* * *

One thing that could not be purged during the strange ritual that Arnold had fallen victim to was his anger. He stood up off of the cold, unnaturally smooth ground and immediately picked up what he presumed to be his sword. He was ready to kill the first thing his eyes caught a glimpse of, but strangely enough, there was nobody or thing in sight for him to kill. Only himself and a surreal sepia-tinted world.

The kid searched this artificial vista. Sepia roads extended out into the bleak horizon, creating a labyrinth of ominous walkways in this abyss. It was only until he looked up when he finally spotted something of interest.

The dark skies were dotted with different images. They moved as if they were actually happening in real time. At first, all he could see were the few memories he had been able to collect after Ghiaccio and Robin found him lying unconscious near the cenote.

He smiled at the first series of screens as they played out. The first time he met his old friends. The closest thing to a family he would ever come to know.

One particular memory stood out among the rest when he heard Ghiaccio's voice pierce the silence of the void. He focused his attention on one of the images being displayed in the sky. It was the memory of an event that transpired a long time ago. Even if it was not exactly fresh in his mind, he remembered it well and immediately knew what was about to happen on-screen.

"Goddammit, Arnold," Ghiaccio's wrathful voice echoed from atop Robin's shoulders. "You tracked mud all over the hall again! How long were you going to leave this ugly shit on my nice wood floors, huh!? Are you really that inept!? _I've told you a thousand times to remove your shoes before you come in!_ "

"I'm sorry," another voice spoke out, immediately backing away.

Arnold watched as Ghiaccio stared into the screen with his imposing presence.

"You're a worthless piece of shit," Ghiaccio screamed. "Why did we even bother scraping your ass up off the forest floor!? All you do is waste our time and patience day in and day out. Just get the hell out of my sight!"

It was such a simple mistake, yet Ghiaccio lost his mind over it. As he watched the event transpire, he realized how bad this looked from an outsiders perspective. Arnold was swift to dismiss this little argument as nothing serious. After all, friends fought and bickered all the time. How could that one scenario prove any different?

Just when Arnold began thinking of an even worse argument, a new screen took precedence over the others. It displayed the very memory he was recalling. He saw himself being shoved against a wall. Robin had one hand around his neck and Ghiaccio watched from a safe distance, as always.

This time, Ghiaccio spoke in a lower tone of voice. He was not screaming, but his anger was still readily apparent.

"We saw the cuts in the floorboards," he hissed. "You cut my floors with your sword, didn't you?"

"I'm sorry," was the best response Arnold could possibly give under such circumstances.

This was exactly the wrong thing to say. Arnold understood that in retrospect, but at the time, he would have to suffer the consequences.

" _I'm sorry_ ," Ghiaccio said in a mocking voice. " _I'm sorry! I'm so sorry that I cut up the floor because I'm a raging lunatic!_ How many times are we going to hear the same fucking thing from you? _Sorry_ just isn't enough this time, kid."

It was no lie that every time Arnold did something wrong, he would always apologize. Something that had become more of an annoyance than an atonement. A fact that he learned the hard way that day.

Ghiaccio turned to Robin after his speech had been concluded. "Robin. I want you to ingrain this lesson in his mind. I don't want him to ever do this kind of shit again."

Arnold turned away from the screen as Robin balled his left hand into a fist.

He covered his ears just before the sound of himself being beaten senseless could fill the void. Even now, he did not feel the need to question this punishment. Often times, he saw Ghiaccio and Robin as his guardians as opposed to the lifelong friends they claimed to be. Occasionally, they simply had to teach him the error of his ways and teach him they did.

Never again did Arnold feel the need to lash out at his own shadow with his sword while he was in the house. He tried explaining the issues he had with his mischievous shadow in private to Ghiaccio just before Robin got involved but it only made the situation worse. No one could comprehend the fact that his shadow invaded his dreams and even made him doubt his own name.

Suddenly, he heard a more cheerful memory transpire above him. He looked up, hoping to be reminded of one of the good times he spent with Robin and Ghiaccio only to find that this was not the case.

The screen to catch his attention this time was an image of that mysterious woman in the blindfold he saw days ago. It was not a recollection of his first encounter with the stranger, but a memory that went completely over his head. He could not deny that it was his voice playing in the background, but he could not remember saying anything that he was hearing.

The voice kept talking about buying this girl some sort of shirt. It was a conversation that made no sense to him. Why would he even be discussing such a thing with this stranger?

Pretty soon, more of these false memories began appearing in the sky overhead. Among these unfamiliar images, a dark figure appeared. That same entity that banished him to this world of recollection.

The memories behind the metal monster suddenly paused. All except for the ones regarding Ghiaccio and Robin. Those kept on playing while these new invasive images began to disappear.

" _Alert_ ," the robot exclaimed. An odd static filled Arnold's ears. The creature was clearly having trouble speaking for reasons he was sure to find out.

" _C-c-critical damage s-sustained! Halting transfer of m-m-memory data until… location has been r-reached._ "

And just like that, everything returned to normal.

* * *

Arnold rose up off the ground to the sensation of rain pelting his back. He could hear the familiar sound of leaves rustling against each other. The grass beneath him was bathed in turquoise light. Finally, he was home.

Before he had time to celebrate his return from that awful dream world, he realized that there was still a threat to deal with. That demon was surely still around here somewhere.

When he looked up, his assumption was confirmed. He was both shocked and relieved by what he saw all at the same time. He did indeed see that same metal monster that tried to steal his memories. His precious memories. The only things he had left that had any value to him apart from his two friends at the manor. That alone gave him the motivation to do everything in his power to ensure the remainder of this foe's life would be short and painful.

However, he realized all too quickly that his resolve was not needed. The monster was clearly damaged. The thing was lying helplessly on the ground. It was missing one of those creepy little arms hanging underneath its body. Electrical sparks and smoke rose from the wound that had been inflicted.

It took Arnold a moment to realize who had caused this wound, but relief showered down on him like the eternal rain that bombarded the forest when he finally spotted him.

Robin loomed triumphantly over the little robot. This was one of the rare times when Arnold was able to see Robin's Levin Sword. A fierce looking blade with spikes on either side and a zigzagged figure. Small arcs of lightning flared up off of the blade's smooth surface. It was something that never failed to capture Arnold's imagination.

In his left hand, Robin held the severed arm of that machine. The sight of such mutilation made Arnold overjoyed. He gritted his teeth in sadistic glee. The thought of that creature enduring pain felt a bit arousing.

"Robin," Arnold announced in surprise.

The tactician glinted over his shoulder. Those cold eyes locked with Arnold's hopeful blue orbs for a split second before Robin suddenly turned away from him.

He threw the severed arm to the ground and pointed the tip of his sword at the recently defeated robot.

" _M-Mission failed_ ," Pod 153 announced. " _S-status c-c-critical. Unknown hostile has disrupted_ _a-a-attempt to recover memory data_ _. 9S… run. Run. Run. Run. Run. P-please_ _ru_ _…_ "

The demon's words were cut just as short as its life when Robin plunged his sword into its mechanical body.

"What a bizarre day it's been," said Robin. He then placed his foot against the robot's body and lifted his sword out of his defeated enemy.

"You came in the nick of time," Arnold explained in a weak voice.

Robin merely shrugged at his comment. "On your feet," he demanded. "You're embarrassing yourself."

Immediately, Arnold followed Robin's order. He struggled to stand up on his own, but he would receive no help from Robin.

Once Arnold was off the ground, Robin returned his attention to what _was_ his opponent. "Well, this explains why you were so late coming home," he continued with his usual emotionless attitude. "Did you at least catch any catfish?"

"No. I'm afraid not."

While Arnold was filled with regret about his failure, he was not exactly concerned about catfish at the moment. Not after what had just happened. He stared at the destroyed corpse. For a demon who came out of nowhere and attacked him with the intent of stealing or replacing his memories, it certainly did not want him to stick around now that Robin had shown up.

"Hurry up, boy," Robin ordered as turned and started off in the direction of the manor. "And grab that thing's corpse. I'm sure Eve will be able to shed some light on the monster that attacked you."

* * *

The walk home was quiet. It was always like this when he was alone with Robin. The young man had nothing to say and it was normally the same for the kid.

However, this time was a little different. Those images remained burned his head. Arnold thought it was odd that he had yet to see a single photograph of himself and the other residents of the manor all together despite Ghiaccio's obvious obsession with taking them. Even when gazing at his own memories while under the spell of that demon, he saw nothing but the new memories he created after amnesia had struck him.

He wanted to know more and as much as Robin intimidated him, he simply had to say something. He had to ask about the past that never failed to elude him. Even one insignificant memory would satisfy him.

"Hey, Robin," Arnold meekly inquired. "Do you think you could tell me about a time you, me, and Ghiaccio all spent together? A time before I lost my memories?"

"If I do will you keep quiet for the remainder of the trip," Robin coldly asked.

As cruel as the deal sounded, Arnold agreed without a second thought.

Robin took some time to think of a little lie he could tell Arnold. Something that would shut him up for the time being. Eventually, some generic idea came to him. He kept his lie as vague and brief as possible.

"I remember a time when we were sitting around a campfire. You and Ghiaccio were telling all sorts of jokes. I cannot remember which one, but I know one of them made me spill my soup in laughter."

"Wait a minute," Arnold interrupted with a growing smile. "You can laugh!? How could I have forgotten something like that?"

"Stranger things have happened, no?"

The question made Arnold glance at the metal corpse in his arms. While looking at that thing, he could not agree more.

Robin stopped in his tracks. Arnold did the same when he saw that Robin had stopped moving forward. The tactician did not face him, but as he spoke, Arnold could clearly tell there was a small hint of distress in his voice.

"You know, you could leave right now," Robin informed. "You could just run away somewhere. Far away from the mansion and start a new life if you so desired."

Arnold had absolutely no idea what to say. The best response he could come up with was to simply ride his grave words off as if they were intended to be sarcastic.

"Oh come on," he said with a forced laugh. "Why would I do that? You guys are the closest thing I have to a family! Ghiaccio always says the mansion is our birthright, so it would be a dishonor to both of you if I just abandoned it. Besides, we just got two new roommates! Now the mansion will be even less lonely! How could I ever leave you guys behind? Where would I even go?"

Robin felt no need to continue the conversation. He wanted to, but he resisted. He only said one thing to Arnold before resuming his walk.

"So be it then."

* * *

 _Note: The pods came close to being removed altogether. I had plans to do this conflict in chapter one, but it was cut when I decided to begin the story in a different way._

 _I planned to begin the story with Robin destroying Pod 153 who was guarding 9S's unconscious body. This chapter was removed just before release and was rewritten into what is now the first chapter of Crocodile Tears._


	5. Riverside Madness

**Riverside Madness**

Reaching the river was a grating task, but Lucina and 2B managed it over time. However, as soon as 2B stepped out of the brush and onto the muddy bank, she immediately wanted to retreat.

Corpses lined the northern side of the river. They were impaled on pikes, stripped of clothes, genitalia, and in some cases, their flesh. Blood freely flowed down the land and into the water. Severed body parts floated across the surface of the water and floated westward.

The ghostly silence 2B had grown accustomed to over time had become a thing of the past. Distant screams filled her ears. She could hear the sounds of orgies of violence taking place just behind the brush that lined the northern banks.

"Stay low and keep quiet," Lucina whispered. "You do not want to get spotted by the men who patrol this region lest you desire to end up like that."

"Who did all of this? Machines," asked 2B. Her voice was reduced to nothing more than a whimper. The stench of death was overpowering and the sight of organs floating across the water was utterly nauseating.

Lucina glanced at her in confusion, as if she had just heard a new word. She wanted to ask about that strange word, but she eventually felt compelled to ignore it entirely.

"The locals do not take too kindly to newcomers. That means us."

"So, we probably shouldn't stick around," suggested 2B.

Lucina shook her head. She then slowly moved along the bank and headed west. As 2B had done for the past day, she followed her in total silence.

* * *

The two did not stay near the river for long. Lucina eventually retreated further into the forest but never let the river out of her sight.

The screams had since either died down or the duo had simply moved too far away to hear them. Traces of sadism still lined the northern bank, however. Corpses decorated the tree lines and blood stained the ground.

2B did her best to ignore the gore around her. It was a bit easier to do after she and Lucina moved further away from the river. They walked near the top of a steep hill. The two kept their eyes on the river. Anytime there was so much as a rustle in the brush on the other side of the river, Lucina ducked behind a tree and hid for a few seconds. 2B would just watch her behave erratically when this happened.

Soon enough, 2B was given a reason to jump behind a tree. She merely glanced to the water below when she heard a disturbance in the vegetation. It was something that not even Lucina picked up on.

A person suddenly launched from the brush and ran towards the southern bank. This man's body was mutilated, covered in freshly earned wounds that looked as if they had been inflicted by a whip.

He had been gagged and his arms were tied behind his back. Shackles were latched tightly to his ankles and weighed down this apparent escape.

2B and Lucina quickly ducked behind the same tree and peeked around the trunk to see where this tormented soul was going. They both gripped their weapons, preparing for the worst.

Several loud explosions erupted from the brush to the north and in that moment, the stranger collapsed face first into the water. Silence befell the area. Lucina and 2B remained frozen in place. They did not dare move.

After a few seconds of stillness by the river, Lucina spoke up in a soft whisper.

" _What just happened? Is he dead? What were those sounds I just heard? I hear them every time I come close to the river. What are they?_ "

"You mean the gunshots," 2B flatly inquired. "That man was just shot. Now we just need to figure out who did it? I've never seen machine use traditional firearms. Was it a fellow Resistance member?"

"What are you talking about," asked Lucina. "You keep saying that as if you've seen living machines. The last time I checked, an inclined plane does not possess the ability to kill a man by its own fruition."

Before 2B had time to inquire about her wording, they heard the sound of laughter in the distance.

" _Did you get him_ ," an impish voice echoed from behind the tree line to the north.

Another voice responded from somewhere nearby. The two girls knew these voices were coming from across the river and they were growing closer with each passing moment.

" _Not sure! Search this area for the body and potential accomplices!_ "

Suddenly, hiding behind their tree seemed a lot less safe. Needless to say, 2B and Lucina did not stick around for much longer after overhearing that conversation.

* * *

A couple more hours of uninterrupted walking followed after the duo escaped from the hill. Everything went quiet for awhile. No screams or gunshots could be heard in this neck of the woods. There was only the rumbling noise of running water to remind 2B and Lucina that they had not somehow gone deaf during their trip.

As they drew closer to the source of this rumbling, 2B was surprised to discover that the disturbance was being caused by a waterfall. A violent, but beautiful waterfall that connected the river on their altitude to the flowing waters in a rocky ravine below where it continued to flow further west.

"We're close now," Lucina announced, much to 2B's relief. "The village is just up ahead. Like I said, it's an empty town, so we'll have to search the buildings until we find her. Luckily for us, it's not that big and..."

As Lucina rambled on, something caught 2B off guard. She could have sworn she felt a strange hand reach up from the depths of the ravine and wrap its fingers around her ankle. The feeling of claws digging into her synthetic flesh was not a pleasant one but it only lasted for a microsecond.

She quickly lost balanced and tumbled straight into the ravine. The sound of her falling caused Lucina to quickly turn around just in time to see that 2B had disappeared. Fortunately, she did not have to search very far to find her companion. She looked down and spotted 2B lying in the shallow water at the bottom of the ravine.

"2B! Are you okay!?"

The robot stood up and waved at Lucina. "Still alive," she called back. "You said the village was up ahead? I suppose I'll just press on from here."

"Do you just want to meet up at the village then," asked Lucina.

Under normal circumstances, 2B would never agree to separate with her companion. An android would have no problem jumping down from such a height. Like herself, they would only sustain minimal damage.

However, her initial assumption that Lucina was indeed a fellow android just like her, she was beginning to second guess that assumption. If this was the case, she did not want to risk injury on Lucina's part.

Silently, she nodded her head. "I'll go on from here," 2B loudly announced. "Meet you on the other side!"

* * *

The path through the ravine was rather difficult given 2B's choice of shoes. High heels did not fare well on the slick river rocks that made up her path to the village, nor anywhere else for that matter.

As she presumably, hopefully, moved closer to her destination, she spotted a strange figure in the distance. It was too dark to see from her distance. Cautiously, 2B ducked down and moved along a line of nearby rocks which acted as her only means of cover.

After clearing just a small amount of distance, 2B froze in place at the sight of a silhouette among the shadows of the ravine. This silhouette was comprised of a pair of wings attached to the back of a shadowy figure.

2B moved even closer to this figure until she was able to see it clearly. Surely enough, those bat-like wings she thought she had seen in the darkness were not her imagination. There before her stood a horrific looking creature.

Its leather wings were easily larger than its entire body. The creature's legs had scales which resembled that of a fish. This beast had a long, red tail with a tip in the shape of an arrowhead. From what she could tell from this distance, it seemed as though the creature's feet were that of a lizard's.

Most of the creature's body was hidden by its wings and it did not help that 2B was facing its back. Despite her inability to make out any other details, she could not help but feel an oppressive wave of fear cloud her mind.

Suddenly, the creature turned its head and stared directly at her as if it knew she was there the whole time. She only caught a glimpse of its demonic face before the creature spread its wings and flew off.

2B could not figure out where the creature went. She searched the canopy but she could not see where it had gone. 2B turned back to whatever it was that this creature was looking at before it spotted her.

She cautiously approached an ominous object lying in the river. 2B focused her attention on what appeared to be a coffin sitting on the ground. It was an open casket that was surrounded by strange sigils carved into nearby rocks.

Sticking out of the casket was a white sword that looked suspiciously similar to the smaller blade floating near 2B's back.

Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning struck down from the canopy and hit the coffin and was followed by a loud and abrupt clap of thunder. The shock of such a sight sent 2B stumbling to the ground. 2B quickly picked herself up off the ground and studied the casket. It received no damage from the lighting. A small column of smoke rose from the interior or the coffin, but that was all.

A moment of silence passed. The forest remained as still and silent as always, but this time of eerie tranquility would not last.

From within the coffin, a figure slowly lifted upward. The sword too rose up, revealing that it had been impaling whoever was lying inside. The stranger rose up out of the coffin as if he were a vampire. His entire body arose from the darkness as if he were floating to his feet. Both arms were anchored to his sides, proving to 2B that he was not using them as support as he seemed to quite literally rise from the grave.

The dead boy's clothes were uncomfortably familiar. They were stained with dried blood, but she still recognized them. From the blindfold on his head to his white hair, she recognized him from the moment he rose from his bed of eternal rest.

"Uh… 9S," 2B stuttered in a fearful tone. "9S, is that you?"

The corpse said nothing to her. In silence, it wrapped its fingers around the white blade that had been run clean through its torso. The corpse then pulled the blade free from its torso. With a weapon now in hand, the zombie charged at 2B without warning.

2B dodged the first attack and immediately drew her sword to block the second swing. At this point, she was certain that her new opponent was not the same 9S. None of it made any sense to her. She could not think of a single reason 9S would be hiding in a coffin this far away from Ghiaccio's mansion. The fact that this corpse was just struck by lightning and the wound in its torso only added to her confusion. She had not the first idea about what she was fighting and the chip in her brain which was normally used to gather intelligence was not gaining anything at all on this enemy.

It was silent as it continuously attacked her, forcing her to remain on defense. Its strength surpassed that which she had come to expect from the scanner models it so closely resembled. The speed at which it attacked even managed to make _her_ feel overwhelmed.

She backed away in a desperate attempt to clear some distance but her efforts were in vein. With each step backward, her opponent would take two steps forward. It applied constant pressure on her as its attacks became increasingly more ferocious.

2B took advantage of the first opening that was left for her. The corpse extended its arm outward with the hope of impaling her. As soon as she evaded the attempt on her life, she lashed out and landed a cut along the corpse's torso that would easily end the life of an android.

The corpse promptly collapsed to the ground like a rag doll. Exhausted and overcome by fear, 2B stood there, looming over the body while she fought a new battle to regain her composure. Unfortunately, she did not have time to do so.

Even after 2B left a deep gash along its chest on top of the wound created by its own sword, the corpse lifted itself up out of the water. Its head immediately snapped in her direction and it charged her once again.

While in such a state of shock, 2B could do nothing but continue defending herself.

"What are you," she fearfully inquired. "Did I not just kill you!? How are you still alive with wounds like that!?"

She was not expecting a response to her questions, but once again, her expectations had been betrayed. The corpse's lips slowly parted. A movement that completely contradicted its wild and uninterrupted onslaught.

" _2...B..._ "

The voice was frail and had a ghostly echo. She knew it belonged to 9S, but the tone still chilled her to the artificial bone.

" _I have no c-control over my body._ _Apollyon…_ _wills it._ "

2B tried to back off, but her attempt failed for a second time as she simply could not get away from this relentless opponent.

"You mean that creature I saw earlier," 2B asked in between blocking 9S's frantic strikes. "I don't understand!"

As she asked this question, she spotted a figure out of the corner of her eye. She focused on it for a brief second before she was forced to continue fighting. A monster hovering in the air high above the ravine. This time, the creature was fully illuminated by the turquoise lights that dotted even the darkest depths of the forest.

His wings flapped in the air and prevented him from falling victim to gravity. He had the head of a dragon, the upper body of a man, and his arms were covered in the scales of a fish. Long claws came to a hooked point at the tips of his scaly fingers.

With every breath the monster took in, he exhaled a torrent of wrathful flames. The last detail 2B noticed before having to turn away were the two spiraling horns on either side of the monster's head.

"Just kill me," the corpse pleaded.

2B hesitated to act offensively. This seemed to surprise the uncontrollable corpse greatly.

"What's wrong, 2B? You've done it before. You shouldn't have any problems doing it again, right?"

"No," 2B retorted in a shaken tone. "You said you're being controlled. That means if I kill that monster, you'd be free, right?"

" _But don't you want to kill me_ ," asked the zombie. This time, 9S's youthful voice had changed significantly. It sounded mischievous and filled with contempt.

"You do it over and over again! You were the light of my world until you decided to betray me! Don't you remember killing me? I recall those tears of false sympathy escaping your blindfold when you ran me through. In truth, it probably turned you on to see me die, right?"

2B froze as her sword locked in place. She held her opponent's weapon back. Neither she nor the lifeless corpse of 9S would be the first to back down.

His personality changed in an instant. His words quickly drove 2B crazy. In a panic, she shoved 9S off of her sword after mustering all of her strength and finally went on the offensive. She ran past him as he stumbled to regain his foothold and without thinking, she sliced his head clean off his shoulders.

She did not dare turn back. She could see 9S's headless corpse still standing on her left. Old blood spurted from what used to be his neck. Silence filled the area once more, but just as it had happened before, this peace would not last.

" _Ow! That hurt, you stupid bitch!_ "

There it was a gain. That hateful voice shouting at her from somewhere behind her. 2B turned around to see the corpse was still standing. Lying on the ground at its feet was 9S's severed head. It looked straight at her.

"I guess I should have expected this, though," the disembodied head proclaimed with an impish giggle. "All you do is kill me over and over again. You do it for pleasure. Just admit it! You kill me because you get aroused by the pain of others. You lead me on time and time again just to execute me! You love it! You love seeing my blood flow at your feet!"

2B could not stand to listen to this infernal aberration any longer. It could still fight, but without its head, it was seriously impaired. The head was still staring at her, but the body was having trouble coordinating its attacks.

She took this opportunity to lunge forth and attack the corpse while it was weakened.

* * *

Apollyon watched from above as 2B dismembered 9S's undead body for hours. Every time she cut him down, he would simply get back up. In response, she decided to make such an action impossible.

The demon's beating wings failed to drown out the glorious sounds two tormented souls screaming for the torment to end. It was music to his pointy ears.

9S went quiet after awhile. He simply could not produce anymore sound after his head was crushed and sliced into a plethora of pieces. 2B did not simply stop at hacking off his limbs to prevent him from moving, she mutilated every part of his body until there was nothing but a pile of gore and metal clumped together between the rocks.

She slowly rose up from the torment she had brought to this twisted version of her partner and stared at Apollyon. The little robot gripped her sword as if to challenge the demon.

Apollyon tilted his head curiously at her. After the gesture truly hit him, he suddenly felt enraged. A robot was currently thinking of ways to slay him. An artificial creature of which he would not even consider to be alive was genuinely contemplating a means of defeating him. She was not even human, yet she was challenging _him_.

Before 2B could figure out what was happening Apollyon dove through the air and headed straight for her at high speed. As he grew closer to her, Apollyon opened his right hand where a flame burst forth from his scaly palm. It materialized and solidified into the shape of an infernal bolt. In mid air, he grabbed hold of the bolt in mid air and pressed on.

All the while, 2B remained stationary. From what Apollyon could tell, all she probably knew was that he was no longer floating in the air above her. She could not even see him coming let alone brace for his attack.

As he flew straight past her, clearing the distance in the span of a microsecond, Apollyon felt the satisfying sensation of his bolt piercing the flesh of her neck. He forced it through her circuitry and ran it clean through her throat.

The fight was over in no time and that was just what Apollyon would expect from some simple automaton. He pressed his bear-like feet against the ground and slid to a stop just behind 2B. As soon as he turned around to admire the results of his latest victory, 2B collapsed to her knees.

She sat there, gagging and gargling over her own blood as it filled her metal lungs. She dropped her sword. She no longer had the strength to hold onto her own life, let alone her weapon.

Unfortunately, she was not dying fast enough. It angered Apollyon to see that she was still attempting to cling to life. It was insulting.

As the monster approached her, he let out a loud growl. With both hands, Apollyon grasped either side of the bolt that now acted as the only means 2B had of keeping her blood in her body. Apollyon promptly howled victoriously as he turned the bolt clockwise.

It took a bit of effort, but the feeling of her circuits and pipes breaking due to his force gave him more than enough motivation to continue with his ruthless execution. Her neck was forced to turn out of place until Apollyon managed to twist her head off like a bottle cap.

Apollyon continued to roar in sadistic excitement while a fountain of blood exploded from 2B's mutilated neck. Her head tumbled to the ground as her body promptly collapsed into the shallow water.

The river quickly turned red. It was just another beautifully gory result of Apollyon's swift victory.

* * *

2B woke up as if it were all a dream. She sat up and immediately felt around to ensure that her head was still attached to her body. Surely enough, it was.

She took a look around but there was no sign of the demon that she thought decapitated her. She remembered the pain of being attacked by him. It was all too real. The moment she noticed 9S's dismembered body parts scattered across the ravine was when she realized it was not a dream.

"I should be dead," she told herself in a hushed tone. "Why am I still alive?"

The tips of her fingers traced her neck where she soon felt something odd that appeared to be wrapped around her throat. She felt it through her collar which had been torn apart from the rest of her dress and was now simply clinging to her neck. It did not feel like a necklace, nor could she figure out a reason why she would wake up wearing one.

2B immediately leaned over the water next to her, hoping to get a reflection. It took a bit of time to figure out what she was looking at given the poor lighting, but she eventually figured out what had been wrapped around her neck. It was not a decoration at all. It was a line of stitches that appeared to be keeping her head attached to the rest of her neck.

The wound was still visible and outlined in dried blood. The only thing keeping her neck in one piece was a bunch of crudely placed stitches. In shock, she slowly leaned away from the river and sat there on the damp bank.

"I died," she told herself. "I had to have died. It was all real."

2B spotted something odd on the ground as she began contemplating her own death. A large number of sigils had been drawn into the dirt beneath her. One massive circle surrounded the spot she laid on and was filled with unrecognizable symbols. She had no idea what it meant but she knew it must have been the work of that monster. The one that resurrected soul referred to as 'Apollyon'.

She wrapped her hands around her knees and sorrowfully gazed at the damaged she was forced to do on that strange corpse. For a split second, the creature acted just like 9S until its personality took a turn for the absolute worse.

No longer did she care about the obvious fact that she had just been decapitated and brought back from beyond the grave as if she were a play thing of this demon. Nor did she care that she did indeed face a living, breathing demon. Not even rescuing Arnold from that creepy mansion seemed like a desirable plan anymore given her current train of thought.

"No matter what happens," she whispered to herself. Her words were drowned underneath the sound of tropical rain constantly pounding the forest floor.

"No matter what time or hellish place I'm trapped in, I'll always kill him. By will or by force. He'll always die by my hands."

* * *

 _Note: In_ _Jade_ _, the river is depicted as silent and gives the reader a false sense of peace much like the area around Ghiaccio's mansion. What you saw in this chapter was how the river was initially meant to be presented. As the characters ventured deeper into the forest, the environments were supposed to become more hellish and surreal. The river was to be the first of these hellish locations to be encountered._

 _However, just as I compromised with previous goals to keep the canopy, I did the same in this instance. I wanted to make the forest as empty as possible. A lonely and haunting place as opposed to an obvious hellscape._

 _As for Apollyon, he is a cut character from a totally different set of works I made in the past which now act as precursors to Jade, Xibalba, and now Crocodile Tears. As his name suggests, he is a reference to John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Apollyon was intended to be reused in Jade, but his arc was cut. The same happened when I tried to incorporate him into Xibalba as a secondary antagonist, but that role was filled by another character._

 _One of the reasons I removed Apollyon from Jade was because he simply did not fit the theme of the forest. Most of the monsters encountered in Jade are designed to be more surreal. There were times when I considered giving them more medieval traits and some of the monsters still retain said traits, but I decided to avoid anything that was so obviously demonic in nature._

 _Both Jade and Xibalba have their own major antagonists. Two characters who occasionally appear in either story, but are mostly seen in their respective settings. I felt the same was needed in Crocodile Tears._


	6. Quiet Town

_Note: This chapter was actually named after a project I had written a while back and no longer exists on the site. It was written for the series, Texhnolyze_ _which, incidentally, was the same series that inspired most of Jade's themes and villains._

 _In fact, before Jade was a Fire Emblem story, I had planned to write it for Texhnolyze._

* * *

 **Quiet Town**

Robin casually walked down the stairs with Ghiaccio wrapped around his neck. Despite Eve's frantic calls from the living room, they took their sweet time in responding.

They saw what all the fuss was about upon reaching the living room. Adam was finally awake. The long-haired man sat upright on the sofa with his hands pressed against his face. Ghiaccio grinned at how tired and helpless he looked. Naturally, he was the first to say anything.

"Nice to see you awake, sleepyhead," Ghiaccio teased. "So you're Adam, right? Glad you came 'round. There's been a lot of weird shit happening lately and I was hoping someone such as yourself would clear some of it up for us a bit."

Adam looked up and immediately assumed it was the stranger in the robe who had just spoken to him.

"You must be the owner of this property," he stated in a tired tone. "My brother informed me that you let us stay here. I thank you for your hospitality."

"That's great and all," the serpent retorted. Ghiaccio noticed Adam's fading smile as soon as he spoke. He was used to it by now, but he ignored Adam's astonishment. "So maybe you can repay our hospitality by telling us everything you know. And when I say everything, I mean absolutely everything."

* * *

Arnold stared up at the recently slain metal demon. Its small body had been impaled on a pike and left out on the front lawn to forever act as a deterrent for those foolish enough to trespass on Ghiaccio's property.

With a marker and wicked imagination, Arnold worked to deface the metal corpse. He drew faces and vulgarities on its rectangular body. He grew bored shortly after drawing a mean looking face on the creature.

He stepped back and admired his work for a moment before something hit him. He tilted his head curiously at the sight of the defiled corpse.

"Hmm," he pondered, glancing at his shadow that was cast over the grass at his feet. "You're right! Something is missing. But what could it be?"

Suddenly, Arnold snapped his fingers when it hit him. "I got it," he exclaimed to the dead robot. "You need a hat! I'll be right back!"

The boy then bolted for the mansion, or at least, he would have entered the mansion in search of a headdress of some sort were it not for the front door being thrown open as he darted across the lawn. Arnold stopped in his tracks when he noticed that strange white haired man leave the mansion. The same individual who had moved in not but a day ago.

"Hey," he greeted with a nervous wave. Arnold was always eager to make new friends, but he remained cautious as the memory of the newcomer lashing out at him yesterday was still fresh in his mind. "Your name's Eve, right," Arnold inquired. "What are you doing out here?"

Eve nodded his head. "My brother woke up, but he and Ghiaccio wanted me to come out here for the time being."

"Really!? Glad to hear he's awake. Is he always so lazy?"

The shirtless man solemnly shook his head in denial. "No. So, what are you doing?"

Arnold glanced back at the corpse that had been so ruthlessly put up on that rusty pike. He then pointed his thumb over his shoulder to draw attention to it.

"An art project. Wanna help?"

"Can we play a game instead," asked Eve. His tone suddenly became more excitable, especially at Arnold's positive response to his idea.

"Sure, what do you want to play?"

Eve suddenly forgot about all of his troubles. He even began to lower his guard down around the kid after hearing this. Already, his mood was changing for the better.

* * *

The village was anything but welcoming. 2B managed to reach it after a rather bizarre adventure. She stood just outside of town with her back to the forest. It was especially dark here. Most of the wild neon plants that dotted the forest floor did not stretch out into the town which meant a healthy portion of the village was plunged into darkness.

Just as it did above Ghiaccio's mansion, the everlasting canopy even stretched over this entire village without a single tree to support the skyward branches.

The place was just as desolate as the rest of the forest. She had no idea why she expected to be greeted by a bunch of local residents when Lucina stated several times that only one person resided here.

She looked upon the small structures that probably once acted as comfortable homes until they were all abandoned. Vines and brush encroached upon the town and only rarely was there a plant that glowed to be found up ahead.

2B moved forward despite the uneasy feeling she was getting. Either she could not recognize it or was simply ignoring it.

She pressed on through the town for only a few yards before she began noticing odd sights. Shadows danced unnaturally out of the corners of her eyes. She stared down the road before her but failed to see anything of interest.

Ignoring these dancing shadows, 2B continued onward, heading deeper and deeper into the abandoned village. There was not a single stirring of life here. Despite knowing that Lucina and one other person should be in the area, the town felt more lonely than the silent woods which surrounded Ghiaccio's enclave.

After walking for a few more blocks, 2B noticed an open door leading to one of the dark homes. Out of curiosity, she decided to take a look inside. Upon poking her head through the front door, she immediately noticed an old rope hanging from the ceiling. It had been tied into a noose. She scanned the ground for any clues as to why such a thing would be placed here, but she found nothing.

Without wishing to waste any more time in this creepy abode, she ducked out of the home and started off down the road again.

* * *

As she marched down the narrow dirt road, 2B kept noticing those dancing shadows but she ignored them. Her only goal now was to regroup with her new friend.

She would have continued on her journey without even thinking of stopping, but once again, this unusual town had found a way to interrupt her search.

She heard a voice. She could not tell what was being said, but it was indeed a voice. A somber whisper coming from directly behind her. 2B stopped in her tracks and twirled around. She took a defensive stance and prepared for the worst only to see nothing there.

2B shifted uneasily at the sight of the vacant road before her. The android remained perfectly still. She listened closely to her surroundings but the town remained dead quiet. Nothing stirred in the darkness and after a few moments of utter solitude, 2B turned back around and resumed her search.

* * *

2B gazed at the shimmering waters ahead. After roaming aimlessly through the town, she stumbled upon this expansive lake. A strange maze of wooden docks extended out from shore and stretched across the eastern side of this large body of water. 2B could not find a reason why these docks were constructed in this manner. They acted as paths that went in every which direction for no rhyme or reason.

She felt a little disorientated just by looking at them from a distance. They spread out like a spider's web and seemed more troubling than productive. Regardless, 2B did not bother questioning their design, mostly due to the fact that there was no one around to inquire with.

She looked to her left and noticed another odd sight. Along the grassy shore were rows and rows of large stones. It was obvious to her that the rocks were placed there by someone. She cautiously approached them for a more thorough investigation.

On closer inspection, 2B came to a rather chilling conclusion. She looked at the rows of stones carefully. Each of the stones had a name engraved on them. Each one marked the spot where a corpse had been buried. Without knowing it until it was far too late, 2B had stumbled into a graveyard.

Glowing flowers were laid in stacks next to each grave which proved to her that someone was still caring for them. There was no overgrowth to be seen in this area. Vines and thorns alike had all been kept away from the graves.

As 2B leaned forward to read the name carved on one of the makeshift tombstones, she was caught off guard by the sound of yet another voice calling out to her in the distance. This time, however, she could at least understand what was being said.

" _2B! There you are!_ "

2B turned to face the source of that familiar voice. Surely enough, she spotted Lucina standing in front of a tree line near the shore. She was relieved to say the absolute least.

Lucina turned away from her and gestured toward the trees behind her. "Hey, Lyn! She made it here!"

2B approached Lucina. As she made her way toward the blue-haired woman, she noticed a figure sitting underneath one of the trees. As she drew closer, 2B was able to see this figure more clearly.

A rather sorrowful looking woman sat with her back against a tree. She had long green hair done up in a ponytail. She wore a blue dress with a gold trim. Just looking at her made 2B feel as though a dark cloud of despair was creeping up on her and weighing down on her shoulders

The woman slowly lifted her head up and glared at 2B with eternally sad eyes. Seeing Lucina's polite smile compared to the other woman's grieving frown was nothing short of surreal.

Softly, the woman Lucina called 'Lyn' spoke out to 2B. "Oh, so you're the unlucky one I've been hearing about. Dropped into this strange forest with virtually no memory, and to make matters worse, you've already crossed Ghiaccio's path."

Lyn forced a weak smile in a vain attempt to convey a bit of humor to try and cheer up 2B, but the android could see nothing but pain sustaining that false grin.

"Not a good day to be you, I'm afraid."

* * *

Just as they had done with Eve, Ghiaccio and Robin listened very carefully to Adam. There was a bit of awkward exchange due to Adam's confusion. He was far less cooperative than his brother, but Ghiaccio eventually got him to recite just about everything he remembered before waking up.

He told a very similar story. He spoke of the same metal creatures invading a desolate world and constantly fighting a never-ending war that seemed so pointless to the snake. There were plenty of gaps in Adam's story which Ghiaccio quickly dismissed as a result of memory loss. However, the most noteworthy aspect of his story was how it ended. Eve's ended with his brother's death. A fact that confused Ghiaccio given the fact that Adam was currently standing right before him, completely alive and unharmed.

Naturally, once Adam had finally shut up, this was the first thing Ghiaccio felt the need to address.

"You say you can't remember anything past the moment when this 2B chick raided your creepy town to find Arnold or 9F or whatever the fuck his name is! Right?"

" _9S_ ," Adam corrected.

"Do I look like I give a single iota," Ghiaccio shouted with growing frustration. "So you don't remember being disemboweled! Like I'm talking cut open, blood everywhere, open wound, dead on the ground, _dead!?_ You don't remember any of that?"

Adam slowly shook his head. "I do not recall dying at all. I'm pretty sure I would remember that, though."

"Well, you _are_ a robot, after all," Ghiaccio reminded. "Maybe you got some kinda voodoo working in your favor. You messed around with the dark arts before?"

Adam looked at the serpent as if he were mad. He did not know how to respond. He found it especially odd how Ghiaccio reacted to the fact that he was indeed a machine.

"You act as if you've never seen a machine before," Adam announced in confusion.

"We haven't," Ghiaccio agreed with a firm nod of his scaly head.

This confused Adam even more. He looked at Robin who had the same hair as the two androids that gave him so much trouble in the past.

He pointed almost accusingly at Robin as if he had done something wrong. "You there. Aren't you an android as well? You have the looks for it, but I cannot tell for sure."

Robin adopted a more offended expression. He placed his hand on the sword concealed by his robe in preparation to cut Adam down for saying such a thing.

"Did you just compare me to a creature such as yourself," Robin darkly inquired, staring at Adam with murderous intent.

Ghiaccio let out an awkward laugh just to avoid conflict. "Don't be silly, Adam! Robin is a human. What else would he be?"

Adam's jaw nearly hit the dining table upon hearing this. He wondered if it was a mere joke or the undeniable truth. He analyzed every inch of Robin's emotionless face. Aside from obvious differences in physical features, he biologically looked no different than Adam. He always assumed there was some sort of distinction between human and machine.

In all honesty, Adam found it quite the disappointing sight. He was expecting to see a heavenly radiance surrounding every living human, but Robin looked no different than he did. There was nothing enigmatic about him. In fact, Robin looked rather bland.

He could not get over how painfully average Robin appeared to be. "You're a human," Adam said with a gasp of disbelief.

Ghiaccio and Robin glinted at each other. It was not exactly common to see a living automaton roaming around in these woods. Arnold who was allegedly one of these creatures even fully believed he was human, something that Ghiaccio would ensure remained unchanged.

"Amazing," Adam exclaimed as he rose up out of his chair and leaned over the table. Despite already being a good distance away, Robin calmly leaned back.

"An actual human being is staring at me! You must tell me your secrets! Tell me about your nature! I have so many questions!"

"Uh," Ghiaccio curiously groaned while Robin kept quiet. "Tell you what. Why don't I go find your brother and in the meantime, you and Robin can stay here. I'm sure he'll be glad to talk to you. Right, bro?"

"I have better things to do with my time than to associate with this enigma," Robin retorted. This remark earned him a nasty glare from Ghiaccio.

The serpent turned around and leaned in close to him and whispered so that Adam could not overhear their conversation. "Look, just humor this freak. It'll give me some time to think of a way we can make quick use of these guys. I don't like any of them either so the sooner I can come up with an idea, the sooner we can dispose of them and be on our way!"

Robin did not argue with Ghiaccio but he did make his disapproval obvious enough to the serpent. Regardless, Ghiaccio slithered off the table, leaving him alone to deal with this bizarre little robot.

* * *

2B was surprised to find out how much Lucina seemed to know about Arnold. She did most of the explaining to Lyn simply on the grounds that she had spent far more time in this surreal forest than 2B.

2B only chimed in every once in awhile to add something or explain her own brief experience at the mansion. Lyn listened to every detail and calmly formulated her initial response.

"Unfortunately, it sounds like your friend is pretty much doomed," she flatly informed. "There's nothing you can do for him now. Better to not even try. Just be thankful you to aren't wrapped up in Ghiaccio's business."

"That's it," 2B asked in disappointment. "You've got no better advice for me? I came all this way just to hear this?"

Lyn cracked a defeated smile at her misplaced determination. "You can try to intervene, but learn from my mistakes. Try not to even bother. There's no point. You'll just make the situation far worse than it already is."

"So, all I can do is let him die?"

Lyn shrugged her shoulders carelessly. She turned away and faced the shimmering lake. The shore on the other side of the water was washed in turquoise light, a stark contrast to the darkness plaguing the village.

She suddenly pointed toward the same graveyard 2B had previously stumbled upon. 2B immediately followed in the direction her finger was aimed at while Lucina merely bowed her head and kept quiet.

"You see those rocks over there? I think you were just perusing them before Lucina called you over here, so you probably already know what they are right?"

2B turned back to Lyn and nodded her head. "I already saw all of the names engraved on them. They're graves aren't they?"

"That's right," Lyn agreed with a broken grin. "I buried all of them. Each one of them was a dear friend of mine. We all ended up here some time ago. I can't say for sure because it's hard to perceive the passage of time in these woods, but I'd say we first arrived here around five or so years ago. Of course, just like you, we didn't come wandering through these woods by our own fruition. We simply woke up here one day. We were scattered but all of us eventually met up in this village. The place was long abandoned by the time we got here."

"You aren't a native to this place," asked 2B.

Lyn was quick to deny this assumption. She firmly shook her head at 2B, her long ponytail swaying from side to side as she moved.

"Not at all. I'm just like you. I had my own life to lead, but somehow I wound up here. We all did and to this day, I still don't know how we got here. There were huge gaps in our memories as well, preventing us from trying to piece together what happened to us. Then again, it wasn't like we had time for any of that. Pretty soon, that snake found us. Ghiaccio slithered into the village one day and met with a couple of my closest friends. You probably already saw their graves. Eliwood, Hector, and Mark. A few months after Ghiaccio moved in, they were all at each other's throats. I was the only one who tried to stay out of it. The town became divided into two groups and I could only watch as they tore each other apart."

"How does this apply to my situation," 2B so impatiently interrupted.

Lyn let out a long sigh before formulating an actual response. "We dealt with the same problem. Ghiaccio drove us against each other and within the span of a few months of his arrival, I was the only one left standing. That's how he operates. He surrounds himself with people only to slowly but surely drive them against each other until they wipe themselves out. Then he repeats the process somewhere else. I'm not sure why he does it, but from everything I've learned since the day my friends killed each other, this seems to be a reoccurring problem."

The android remained silent for a moment. She felt as though she were having a conversation with someone who was in turn, having an entirely different conversation with her. Her question was still going unanswered despite how much Lyn had been droning on and on.

"Do you not see the parallels here," Lucina interjected. "The same thing that happened to her is happening to the both of us. We both come from far away places with virtually no memory of who we once were. We both know people who have been targeted by that snake. The most we can do now is learn from her and hopefully, figure out a way to stop it from happening again. If we can do that, I'm sure we can find a way back to our own respective homes."

"It isn't that simple," Lyn added in a tone that perfectly illustrated her own despair. "You'll both fail just as I have. Even if you do manage to find a way of stopping Ghiaccio and avoiding the inevitable, you're still lost here. There is no way out of this place. You and I will be here forever and ever. You might as well not even try. _However..._ "

Suddenly, a more genuine and hopeful smile broke out across Lyn's face. Her eyes widened slightly as she picked up a sword that would have otherwise remained lying on the ground next to her. She unsheathed the blade and gazed at its shining surface.

Her helpless features were reflected right back at her. Two soulless green eyes stared at her through her own reflection.

"There is a more permanent solution to your problem. You could do what I have yet found the courage to do for myself."

"That's it," 2B muttered. "I'm not listening to this anymore. It was a waste of time to come here. I should be back at that creepy mansion, beating some sense into 9S."

"Yes, you should go back and beat the daylights out of your friend," Lyn said with a lifeless giggle. "I'm sure that will do wonders to bring him over to your side."

2B ignored her comment. In silence, she stormed off, no longer wishing to hear anything in regards to this woman's apparently irrelevant past experiences.

As she walked away, Lyn looked up to Lucina and smiled comically at her. After seeing Lyn's quirky grin, Lucina wondered if Lyn had anticipated such a reaction from the moment she laid eyes on her.

"That's an interesting friend you've made," Lyn complemented with obvious sarcasm. "No one ever heeds my warnings. You probably won't either, so just remember this. Ghiaccio feeds on violence. It's what I fully believe has kept him alive for so long. In the past, every piece of trivial gossip, every stupid argument, and every fist fight could always be traced to that snake. He was the source of problems for us back in the day. A puppet master who constantly directs the same tragic play over and over again. The only things to change are the cast members. In simpler terms, don't do what she's planning on doing. Don't you dare make Ghiaccio's life easier."

"Right," Lucina agreed. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

* * *

Ghiaccio slithered out onto the balcony where he spotted Robin relaxing in a chair with a book in hand as usual. The serpent was rather surprised to find him hiding up here, but it did explain why he saw Adam wandering around the mansion alone.

The rattlesnake immediately went for his leg and traveled up his body. Ghiaccio then wrapped himself around Robin's neck. All the while, Robin continued reading in silence. He ignored the playful shouts of Arnold and Eve as they went about their nonsense on the lawn below.

After Ghiaccio had settled down on his shoulders, Robin abruptly closed his book and stared at the towering tree line that surrounded the property.

"Any ideas, yet," he bluntly questioned.

Ghiaccio let out a loud groan. Despite not saying a single word, Robin already had his answer figured out before he even had a chance to respond.

" _Nah,_ " Ghiaccio grumbled. "We could keep them alive and make use of them, but we could also just kill them; throw their bodies into a ditch and be done with all of this machine bullshit. At this point, I don't know which option will be more helpful in the long run."

"Well, you already know my opinion on the matter," Robin coldly reminded. "These imbeciles are just causing us more trouble. I can't even concentrate on this chapter with all of the shouting below. They sound like a couple of primates."

Ghiaccio stretched himself forward and leaned over the railing. He immediately spotted Arnold and Eve running across the lawn. He could definitely understand Robin's frustration. If there was one word he had to use to describe his new friends it would be 'annoying'.

"I'll go with your suggestion," Ghiaccio finally concluded. "You're right. Fuck these robots. They ain't even worth the air they breathe."

Robin made no reply. He merely opened up his book and continued reading. He saw no better way to spend his time than to lose himself in the contents of the text.

* * *

 _Note: Lyn's portrayal here is slightly different from how she is seen in Jade. She is much more optimistic and willing to fight against Ghiaccio, but that wasn't always intended to be the case, and to some extent in Jade, it still isn't. Lyn's role was always meant to be the equivalent of a cautionary tale. A warning that the characters of both stories would hear and either heed or ignore._


	7. Speak to the Dead

**Speak to the Dead**

Lucina and Lyn stared out at the lake. The surface of the water reflected the neon lights radiating from surrounding plants.

In silence, they watched the motionless water and the docks above the lake, constructed of nothing more than rusty nails and rotting wood.

It was rare when Lyn said anything without directly being spoken to beforehand. Naturally, every time she had something to say, it was always unexpected. Lucina jumped at the sound of her broken voice breaking the heavy atmosphere around them.

"Do you remember the sky?"

Lucina looked down at Lyn who kept her eyes focused on the water. "I haven't been here nearly as long as you. The sky is still fresh in my memory."

"I wonder if I'll see it again when I finally die," Lyn proposed with a hopeful yet equally melancholic tone.

"You can still leave this place, you know," asked Lucina.

"Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn't," Lyn proclaimed. "If I'm gone, no one would be left to tend to those graves over there."

Lucina did not bother responding. She knew better than to waste her breath arguing with someone whose mind was already made up.

" _You know..._ "

Once again, Lucina was caught off guard by the sound of Lyn's melancholic voice.

"You should stay here forever. Just think about it. Okay?"

Lucina forced an uncomfortable smile. Her decision on the matter was made long before Lyn even thought of making it an issue, but regardless, Lucina nodded.

"Okay. I'll think about it."

* * *

After gathering everyone in the entrance hall, Ghiaccio slithered up the railing that lined the stairs and looked down on the other occupants. Robin was the only one not present for this little meeting.

He observed them for a few moments while he thought of a way to open his speech. He assumed there would be no trouble in getting these cybernetic abominations to cooperate. Arnold would do just about anything he asked, and Eve seemed dumb enough to follow along. The real concern was Adam who only just woke up recently from his long slumber and seemed to be the most intelligent out of the three.

None the less, Ghiaccio took a deep breath and shouted. The casual chatter among the robots was silenced underneath the serpent's booming voice.

" _Quiet!_ "

Everyone turned to face him, curious about his outburst.

"Now," Ghiaccio firmly continued. "There's been a lot of play around here but not enough work. First of all! The most important thing on the agenda today."

The serpent then shot an unexpected glare at Arnold who immediately snapped to attention.

"Did you check the line yet? I need me some damn catfish!"

"I checked it this morning, and there was nothing," Arnold informed. "Do you want me to check it now? Who knows, we might have already caught something."

Ghiaccio shook his head. His disappointment was more than obvious to the others. "Nah, not right now. I got something more important for you guys to do. A favor if you will."

"A favor," asked Adam. "Well, I suppose it's only fair given all you've done for my brother and me so far. What is it you need?"

"I need you to kill someone for me," Ghiaccio halfheartedly replied. "Arnold knows who I'm talking about. She's a crazy lady who attacked us a few days ago. I also have a feeling she was involved with that metal monster who attacked Arnold and Robin as well. We can't let someone like that go free. I want you guys to search the area, find her, kill her, and bring me her severed head as proof."

Arnold was the first to respond to this dark request. He smiled in sadistic glee and sprang into action. "You got it! Let me just go grab a few things from my room!"

Arnold promptly ran up the stairs without so much as waiting for Ghiaccio's word of approval.

"Just make it quick," Ghiaccio ordered. "If you see Robin then tell him to hurry his ass up too!"

* * *

2B followed the same lonely path she took to find Lucina. A desolate wind raced toward her and whistled past her ears. As soon as it vanished, so too did whatever sound brought with it and once again, 2B was plunged into a noiseless vacuum.

The sound of her heels hitting the ground was the only thing to remind her that she had not gone deaf during her time in this ghost town.

As she passed one of the houses on her way back to the wilderness, 2B noticed something off about it out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and twirled around. She looked down to see a slumped figure sitting in the shadows of the entrance to this ancient abode.

2B stared down at the semitransparent man. She noticed his odd features after a spending a short time quietly observing him. He had long claws at the tips of his fingers in place of nails. They strongly resembled the talons of a hawk.

His skin was unnaturally pale. She noticed the sickly paleness on Lyn as well, but it was nowhere near as obvious as what she was seeing now. He looked as if he were a decaying corpse who's blood had been drained long ago. She could not make out a single detail about his face while he stared at his own shoes.

Her presence was more than obvious, but the stranger still refused to acknowledge her. Hesitantly, she spoke to the man.

"Hello?"

Slowly, he looked up, revealing a pair of glazed eyes and sharp, carnivorous teeth. His stare was lifeless and his face was devoid of any expression. That suddenly changed after he spent a second or two examining 2B.

"My, my! You're alive aren't you?"

"Of course I'm alive," 2B said in a flat tone. "Are you?"

The man's meek smile wavered slightly at the question. His gaze fell back down to the ground. "Wish I could say otherwise, but no. I've been dead since the elves invaded at the turn of the last decade."

" _The elves_ ," asked 2B. "What are you talking about?"

His smile grew at her curiosity. "I noticed you have no claws and your teeth are different. You must not be from our world. I guess a history lesson is in order then. You see, our boys lost a war with the people who live north of the river. We tried to gain supremacy over them. To cleans the elves of the forest was our only goal, but they beat us. Nowadays, the only humans left are the ones who come from other worlds such as yourself."

2B furrowed a brow at him. She was already suspicious of Lucina and Lyn being humans just by the way the talked to her. After being killed and brought to life by a demon mere hours ago, she would not be so quick to dismiss that as a possibility, but she could not be certain. Now, this man was claiming the exact same. Just another surprise in this backward realm.

"You say you're a human," the android inquired. "Is that true?"

The man snickered at her, assuming her to be joking. Her serious expression, however, told a different story.

"Well, of course, I am," the man proclaimed. "What else would I be? What else would _you_ be?"

2B turned her head, avoiding eye contact with him. She did not even want to bother explaining it to him. She was far more curious about him as it was. "You say you used to be? What are you now?"

"Just a ghost now, ma'am. A soul too stubborn to leave home. Don't get me wrong, eternal rest sounds nice and all, but I'd prefer sticking to what I know. This town is where I grew up, you know. I've never been outside it. I lived here, I died here, and it's here where I'll remain until the end of days."

2B took a closer look at the man's clothes. He was rather stylishly dressed in pinstriped pants, a matching vest and a white shirt underneath. It was the kind of fashion she had only read about in history books. Archaic clothes that she had never seen in person until now. Naturally, they sparked her interest.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir."

"Not at all, ma'am. Ask away. I've got all the time in the world, after all."

"What did you do here... _before you died, of course._ "

The man smiled in fond recollection. He gazed upward to the omnipresent canopy overhead. "I was the town's barber. The first in my family to stray from the military way. Someone had to keep everyone looking their best, right? Well, that task fell to me."

"So, this building behind you," 2B questioned further. "It isn't your home?"

"Correct! It's my shop."

2B did not waste a moment changing the subject after her curiosity sated in this topic and immediately jumped to another. "I have just one more question for you."

"Go ahead."

2B promptly nodded and continued with her inquiry. "On my way to this village, I saw bodies impaled on pikes, blood flowed through the river and screams filled my ears. Was that the work of these elves you spoke of earlier?"

"Most likely, but not just them," the man replied nonchalantly as if this subject was the most ordinary topic 2B could possibly choose to discuss. "After all, what better pleasure is there to be experienced in the world than that which is derived from the pain of others?"

Suddenly, this conversation took a turn for the twisted and 2B was left baffled. She decided to end it there. She wanted to hear no more.

She slowly began walking away, giving him a thankful nod as she went. "Thank you for your time, mister. I appreciate it."

"Time is the most valuable thing we have in life, spend it wisely ma'am."

"It's 2B," the android corrected.

The ghost seemed puzzled by this response. After seeing his expression, 2B quickly explained what she meant.

"My name is 2B. I hate being called ma'am."

"Fair enough."

"Do you have a name, sir?"

The phantom barber scratched his head. She was surprised by his reaction. Did he truly not know the answer to such a straightforward question?

Suddenly, he shook his head in denial. "I'm sure I did at one point, but I can't remember it now. The days of the past blur together as time goes on. Maybe my forgetfulness is just a product of refusing to truly die."

As 2B turned away and continued her walk, the man called out to her one last time.

"Will you come and visit this village again someday!? You're the first person in a long time I've seen who's truly alive! It would be a shame if you were to vanish into the thicket, never to be seen again! _Just like all the others._ "

"Lyn is still here," 2B retorted. "She lives here, you know?"

In disappointment, the man made his rebuttal. "Oh, you mean that grieving woman who does nothing but tend to the graves of her loved ones day in and day out while she waits for death to take her away? I personally wouldn't consider her to truly be alive."

"Neither would I," 2B agreed coldly. "I'll try to come back someday."

With that, she left the ghost in the dust. In stubborn determination, she moved forward to whatever torture was surely laying in wait for her outside of this haunted oasis of peace.

* * *

Quietly, Robin poked his head into Arnold's room. He saw the boy at the far corner of his room. His bag was already packed. Arnold seemed ready for the coming assignment Ghiaccio had planned for him, but the kid was still sitting there in his empty room, staring down at his shadow.

Robin observed him for a moment just to see what he would do, but he did nothing at all apart from sitting there on the floor and wait around for nothing.

Eventually, Robin grew tired of watching him and spoke up.

"Better hurry up, boy. You don't want Adam and Eve to leave without you."

Arnold sprang up from the ground and immediately went for his sword and bag.

"Right! Coming!"

* * *

Robin and Arnold made their way down the stairs. Arnold noticed a large leather case in Robin's arms. He inquired about it only to be met with the typical response of, _"You'll find out, boy."_

In the entrance hall, only Ghiaccio was present. They could hear the voices of Adam and Eve echoing into the mansion from somewhere outside.

As soon as Ghiaccio laid eyes on the case Robin was carrying, his face lit up with excitement.

"Great! You found it!"

Robin nodded his head but said nothing to the snake. With that out of the way, Ghiaccio turned to face Arnold. He had an unusually friendly smile. It was a look that Arnold had never seen before. Up until now, he had always felt that Ghiaccio had always been slightly dishonest with his expressions, but this ecstatic grin seemed realistic enough.

"Good luck out there, Arnold. I'm sure you'll need it, but I'm confident you'll make it back in one piece."

"Right," Arnold agreed with a growing smile of his own. "With Adam and Eve helping me, I'm sure we'll bring that witch to justice!"

All of a sudden, Ghiaccio's expression darkened. His mood did a complete 180. Just like that, the entire tone of the conversation had changed. No longer did Arnold sense any form of happiness from the serpent. On the contrary, he sensed the exact opposite.

"About those two. I need you to listen and listen carefully. Adam and Eve can't be trusted."

That was easily the last thing Arnold expected to hear. His stomach sank as soon as he heard this. Ghiaccio was not above making the occasional fool out of Arnold, but if this was some sort of joke, Ghiaccio was definitely pulling off some top-notch acting.

"What," asked Arnold. "I don't understand?"

Ghiaccio's expression remained unchanged. He stared sternly at Arnold. At that point, the kid knew the serpent was not pulling his leg.

"Robin did some snooping around the other day and found out something interesting. He was able to confirm my initial suspicions. Adam and Eve are working with that blindfolded woman as well as the creature that attacked you recently."

Arnold was surprised to hear this. In fact, he almost did not believe it, but he did not dare question Ghiaccio. He did not bother asking why or how he managed to figure all of this out. After all, if Ghiaccio said something, it was fact.

"Your first mission is to kill the source of all our problems," Ghiaccio continued. "However, traitors are easily worse than our enemies. I don't want to see either of them alive again. Find a way to eliminate them both. Understand?"

With a nervous gulp, Arnold nodded. Suddenly, Ghiaccio's cheerfulness returned.

"Great! Well, let's get out there and kick some ass, then! I mean… you get out there and kick some ass! Robin and I are gonna hang back here where it's safe."

* * *

The moment they exited the mansion, Ghiaccio ordered Robin to open the case he had brought from the uppermost floor.

Arnold was surprised to see him pulling out a camera and stand. Robin appeared to be equally surprised. He stared at the thing as if this was the first time he had laid eyes on such a device.

Ghiaccio gave him instructions on how to use the camera and how to properly position the thing. They set it on its stand and aimed it directly at the mansion's entrance. All the while, the two argued over what to do.

While Robin and Ghiaccio struggled to cooperate, Adam approached Arnold from behind with an equally puzzled expression.

"What are they up too," asked Adam.

Arnold narrowed his eyes at the suspect. He wanted to lash out at him now. He wanted to kill the traitor right here and stain the lawn with his villainous blood. Despite his desires, Arnold ignored them and decided to play ignorant for the time being.

"Not sure," he hesitantly answered. "Guess they want to get a picture before we leave."

" _And done_ ," Ghiaccio called out victoriously. "Alright everyone, gather 'round and find a spot within the frame. Give the camera a nice, big smile! Who knows? This might be the last time we all get the chance to take a picture together so let's make this one perfect!"

Adam and Eve were the first to do as asked. Well, Adam complied and Eve naturally followed his older brother. The two positioned themselves at an angle just left of the camera's focus, leaving room for the others.

Arnold did not need to be asked twice either. He stood proudly on the right side, but only after Ghiaccio had instructed him not to stand on the left since it was already crowded enough.

It took a few more moments of arguing before Ghiaccio and Robin could figure out how to set the timer. It did not help that Robin clearly had no idea what he was doing when it came to this contraption.

Once the timer was set, Robin was instructed to bolt for the open space in between Adam, Eve, and Arnold. On his way, he accidentally shoved Eve further to the left. Even more, bickering ensued immediately after Robin had taken his place with Ghiaccio around his neck as usual.

Arnold ignored the arguing to his left and focused his eyes on the lens ahead. He kept smiling, knowing that at long last, he would be able to immortalize at least one of the few precious memories he had been able to create during his brief time at the manor. For the time being, he forgot all about the troubles plaguing the property.

For now, his only focus was on smiling for the camera, even if everyone to his left was busy fighting over who pushed who. He waited for the flash and soon enough, his vision was flooded with a torrent of white light.

* * *

2B had barely made it out of the village before tragedy struck her yet again. She heard the familiar sound of beating wings and instantly scanned her surroundings.

She looked everywhere to see if she could spot the same demon she had encountered earlier. She was unable to pinpoint his location despite how loud his wings flapped in the air above. It was as if Apollyon was always just right outside of her peripherals.

Unfortunately, she did not even have time to prepare for an attack. She simply was not gifted the chance by her opponent.

An arrow made entirely of hellfire came flying at her. There was no possible way for her to dodge it. She did not even see it coming until the last minute. The very last second before it pierced her metallic heart.

Her lips parted and blood erupted from her mouth. She collapsed to the ground shortly thereafter. Only one thing was clear to 2B in her final moments. For the second time, Apollyon had utterly humiliated her.


	8. Torment

**Torment**

The mansion went dead quiet after Arnold, Adam, and Eve made their departure. After Robin and Ghiaccio retreated back into the depths of the manor, only the corpse of a metal beast impaled upon a rusty pike remained outside. Fortunately for this lonely hunk of metal, a visitor would come soon enough.

This visitor floated across the lawn and made its way up to the dead machine. This newcomer looked almost identical to the creature that had been impaled on the pike. The only difference was the color of its metal body. The dead machine was painted black with a red trim whereas this newcomer was colored white and orange.

The little robot extended its odd-looking arm toward its fallen counterpart and opened its three metal claws. It touched the corpse, prodding it as if to see if it would simply wake up. Of course, it did not.

"Pod 042 to Pod 153," the creature stated in a voice that sounded as artificial as the body it resided in. It hesitated for a moment before continuing with its speech. The pod glanced to the foreboding mansion. It was definitely a place the robot did not want to venture inside alone, but there clearly was no choice in the matter.

"There simply is no point in attempting to resolve internal conflicts among units 9S, 2B, and A2," the robot continued. "Infighting should have been deemed inevitable long ago."

The pod paused for a moment. It did not have much else to say to its dead companion aside from one last thing.

"Pod 042 to Pod 153… You will be avenged."

* * *

2B woke up to the sound of running water. She opened her eyes and found herself lying face down in an old wooden boat heading down the calm river. Neon plants along the bank lit the path ahead. All was silent apart from the sound of a paddle striking the water, forcing the boat further to the west.

Upon realizing that she probably was not alone out here, she turned around and looked to the front of the boat. An idea that did not occur to her until well after she woke up and got her bearings. Surely enough, standing tall on the other end of the boat was Apollyon with a paddle in hand.

His massive leather wings blocked her view of the path ahead. Even from her current position, she could still feel the heat of his infernal breath radiating from up ahead. With every exhale, a torrent of fire rushed through his teeth and nostrils.

She froze in place, not daring to move. She wondered if Apollyon even realized she was awake. 2B placed a hand over her chest just to check the status of the wound he left from her last encounter with the demon.

2B immediately looked down to find a row of stitches covering the wound. How she was still alive puzzled her as a line of stitches would not do anything to fix the internal damage Apollyon had inflicted, but she did not spend too much time wondering. If he could heal her after twisting her head right off her shoulders then a wound such as this would be child's play for him.

While she still did not want to make her consciousness known to Apollyon nor did she think she would receive an answer if she asked, she still decided to speak up.

"Are you the devil," she quietly inquired. "Are you hear to punish me for all eternity? I deserve it, but you probably already knew that, didn't you? I thought my life before coming here was hell, but I clearly was mistaken, right? Nothing's worse than being trapped in true Hell. Being killed by a demon over and over again for all eternity."

A familiar voice spoke out in response to her complaining. A slightly agitated and mocking tone which she knew did not belong to Apollyon.

" _What's the matter 2E? Can't take the same punishment you dish out regularly?_ "

2B followed the voice. Between this abrupt and unexpected out lash to the fact that someone called her by her actual name, she quickly became desperate to seek out the source of that voice.

She looked down and met the gaze of 9S's severed head sitting at the bottom of the boat underneath Apollyon's right foot. The severed head grinned at her with dark intent in his eyes.

"I had no idea you were so delicate, 2E. I would never have guessed given that you were the one who ran me through with your sword without a second thought. Did you like doing that to me? I know I cared for you so deeply until you did that."

"Don't call me that," 2B interrupted. A warning that only produced the opposite of her desired effect.

"Don't call you by your name? Okay, I'll just call you by your job title then. Tell me, murderer, did you enjoy killing me? I bet you did! You can act as if you hated it, but you still did it, and from what I've heard, I wasn't the only one. No, every time they made a new iteration of myself, you were always there to strike me down. You enjoyed it each and every time. Don't lie. Just admit it! Tell me how fun it was to cut my life short!"

"I never enjoyed any of it," she said meekly, like a child being confronted by a parent over some recent wrongdoing.

The head of 9S found the look on her face comical. Ridiculous even. As if she could ever feel anything aside from sadistic glee after slaughtering him. He still could not deny how great of an actress she was. The android was able to mimic the feeling of guilt flawlessly.

He did not bother arguing with her any further. His mind was already made up about her. He already knew everything that he needed to know about her. What comes next was what truly captured his interest.

The boat came to a stop almost immediately after Apollyon threw an anchor out into the water. After hearing that satisfying splash, 9S looked up to 2B with glazed eyes and a warped smile.

"Well, sounds like we've reached the end of the line. Justice has come for you, murderer. I feel truly blessed that Master Apollyon has granted me the privilege to be here during what will surely be a beautiful moment. The moment when you will finally feel the sensation of the same everlasting agony that you have damned me to over and over again."

Apollyon did not give 2B the time to question what was happening. He merely grabbed her by her hair and threw her into the water where said 'justice' was waiting for her.

She stood up out of the water and looked around. She immediately scanned her surroundings to find out what form of torment was waiting for her.

Standing in the water before her, was a crowd of 9S models. All of them fought each other in a brutal orgy of hand-to-hand brutality. Their blood turned this murky section of the river red. They battered each other constantly until their opponents would fall into the water, only to be struck by lightning and rise again from what should have been a multitude of fatal wounds.

There was no order to this frenzy of violence. The first two individuals to simply make eye contact would find themselves beating each other until their eyeballs popped out of their skull and their teeth were punched straight down into their throats. Anyone who stopped fighting for so much as a second was quickly eaten alive by those eager to continue this eternal brawl. Their faces contorted in rage as they practically ate each other alive.

The only time anyone bothered to stop killing was when one of them announced 2B's presence. Suddenly, all eyes were turned in her direction.

" _It's her_ ," one of them suddenly shouted, breaking the unexpected silence that befell the river. "Finally. Someone new."

2B glanced over her shoulder and stared back at Apollyon. The demon looked down at her without a hint of pity in his eternally wrathful eyes. She wondered if this entity had been waiting for her to finally wake up in the forest or if she had only gained his attention by accident, and as a result, would forever be subject to whatever sadistic fantasies he had in mind.

She did not spend too much time attempting to challenge that glare of pure rage. After all, she had an army of vengeful souls to fend off.

* * *

Adam and Eve sat on the ground with their backs against a tree. The search for that hostile was over. She was nowhere to be found. They had spent the entire day looking high and low for her. Behind every branch or pile of brush but turned up with nothing.

While the manhunt was pretty much done for the both of them. The same could not be said for Arnold. The determined little zealot went on without them. That was over an hour ago and neither Adam or Eve desired to make the effort to get up and find him at the moment.

"Brother," asked Eve. "Should we tell Arnold of the past at some point? I know Ghiaccio told us otherwise, but don't you think it's a little sad to see him like this?"

" _Nonsense_ ," Adam retorted in a relaxed tone. "Let him live in blissful ignorance. If you think about it, his amnesia might just be his saving grace. If he remembered us, we'd definitely be in for a fight. We wouldn't want to have to kill him now would we?"

Eve nodded in agreement. "Well, what about Robin, then? Didn't you always use to talk about dissecting humans? Are you gonna try and do that to him?"

"No, I will not. However, he did mention another human around these parts. A woman who has apparently been causing some trouble for our new friends. I do intend to dissect her."

Eve turned his attention to their surroundings. "Any idea where we are, brother? At first, I thought we were lost in that strange kingdom those rogue machines set up. That can't be the case, though."

Adam merely smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"Not a clue."

* * *

2B ran across the southern bank of the river. She ignored the twisted scenes to the north. The blood that painted the trunks of trees and all of the mutilated corpses floating in the water was nothing compared to what she just barely escaped from.

She did not manage to flee from Apollyon's little arena unscathed, however. Her left forearm had been ripped off, revealing a number of metal pipes and damaged circuits. She was covered in other more minor injuries. Despite all of this, she still pressed on as she knew her fate would be far worse if Apollyon managed to capture her for the second time.

At this point, she was thoroughly lost. There was one question on her mind and the fact that she could not answer it to save her life was stressful to no end. That question was simple. Which way to Ghiaccio's manor?

Even returning to Lyn's ghost town was looking rather tempting as well, but she had no idea if she was even going the right way. It was impossible for her to determine the four directions, making her wonder just how exactly Lucina was able to determine them.

Eventually, she came to a stop regardless of the fact that she was probably being chased by that winged monster. 2B scanned the area ahead. Nothing looked familiar to her. She saw no memorable landmarks that might indicate her whereabouts.

In a haze of frustration, she shouted at the path ahead, demanding an answer to her question.

"Where the hell am I!?"

The last thing she expected to receive, was a response. Naturally, her blood ran cold when a voice addressed her inquiry from somewhere behind her.

" _Running without knowing where you're headed? That is a grave mistake to make out here._ "

2B slowly turned around, freezing in place when she finally located the person speaking to her. With a calm smile on his face, 9S stood several yards away from her with two swords in either hand. Whether it was actually one of the past versions of 9S she had killed long before becoming ensnared in the forest, Arnold or some demon in disguise remained just about anyone's guess.

Her confusion seemed to surprise him. His smile grew ever so slowly.

"As you can see, Master Apollyon gave me my body back," 9S announced. "His generosity truly knows no bounds."

"You were the one on the boat, right," asked 2B. "The one your generous master used as a footstool?"  
9S responded with a cocky smirk. "A better fate than being murdered over and over again, don't you agree, 2E?"

She remained silent. With her saying nothing, 9S went on. "I must say, your screams back there were quite erotic. I could never have fathomed pain to be such a pleasurable experience until I came here. Before we begin the act of killing each other, I must request one thing of you. As I carve into your flesh and metal, please do me the pleasure of begging for your life. Really sell your misery. I don't just want to cause you pain. I want to hear it. Scream for me, darling. Scream and yell as I rip you apart, but don't just stop there. As I said before, causing you pain isn't enough. Neither is hearing your cries of distress. I want to feel it for myself as well. Come at me with everything you got. Grant me the sensation of the very same agony I plan to torment you with. Would you do that for me?"

"Never really imagined that you'd be into that sort of thing," 2B replied. "Well, you won't get any of that if I'm unarmed, right? You've got two swords. Think you could spare me one?"

"Silly me," 9S said with a rather eerie giggle. "I almost forgot. Here you are."

He threw one of the swords at her feet. She looked down and noticed its white coloring. It was clearly one of her two weapons. She had no clue what could have possibly happened to her other weapon, but she did not spend too much time contemplating it. She picked up the blade and readied herself.

9S could hardly contain himself. He wasted no more time. He licked his lips in anticipation for the coming bout of violence and charged at her.

As their swords clashed, 2B could not help but wonder when or if he would bother trying to hack into her systems as she saw no other way for him to gain a proper advantage over her even with one of her arms severed.

"Come on," he abruptly demanded over the sound of their swords repeatedly hitting each other. "Beg for your life. Scream in agony! _Cry in misery! Lash out in fear!_ "

"How long have you been trapped out here," asked 2B.

Suddenly, 9S stopped fighting. Surprised by the fact that he had backed off without warning, 2B lowered her sword and watched him carefully, studying every last move he made.

"Try to remember," 9S requested in a dark tone of voice. "It was a long time ago. I learned of the folly of YoRHa. My intention was to tell you and only you. I felt as though you had the right to know. Ignorant me did not know at the time that you were one step ahead of me. You cut my head off for my act of heresy. I still remember you weeping in sorrow. You were a good actress, acting as if you were distressed. Just like a crocodile, crying as it slowly devours its latest meal."

The sight of 2B's expression softening upon hearing this explanation only inspired 9S to resume his crusade for revenge and simultaneously quench his thirst for pleasure. Both lust and hatred alike empowered him.

He charged forth while she was still distracted by her returning memories. At the last second, however, she regained focus. In a panic, she swung her blade forward and felt it connect with her opponent the moment his blade sliced through her stomach.

It was the most pleasurable sensation of his life. He came to a stop just after spilling her guts on the forest floor. The sound of her presumably lifeless body hitting the ground filled his ears.

He looked up to the canopy, gazing at the dark leaves that blocked out the sky. His expression was that of pure bliss and satisfaction. The cool droplets of mist only added to this wicked sensation.

" _Beautiful_ ," he whispered.

Suddenly, a torrent of blood exploded from his throat. And just like that, his life in the forest was over. The time he spent quite literally under Apollyon's heel, dreaming and longing for this very moment that had finally arrived was now over and done with. Concluded, just like his miserable existence.

* * *

Arnold stared down at his shadow. The very bane of his existence. It never spoke to him, but he knew it had a voice. A presence that disapproved of every action he made. It followed him around everywhere and never contributed to anything apart from acting as a disapproving force.

Normally, when his shadow was on his mind, his expression would grow dark. This time, however, he grinned cockily at the darkness beneath him.

"If I kill her, you'll die too. I'm sure of it," he told his shadow. He heard no response, but the answer was already as clear as day to him.

He stood up off the ground, confident of his agenda he searched the area for a path to continue his search. Arnold quickly froze when his gaze fell upon a strange craving on one of the trees up ahead. Curious about this strange sigil, he pressed forward, hoping to find something of interest up ahead.

* * *

Adam and Eve had remained unmoved from their spot underneath their chosen tree. Adam was lost in thought while his brother silently sat next to him, waiting for him to say something. Anything at all that would give him more insight into this unknown realm.

"This is taking forever," Adam finally stated, breaking the silence at long last. He abruptly stood up and let out a bored sigh.

"Where is that boy? I'm starting to wonder if he actually found something."

"Is there anything to find, brother? I haven't heard so much as a peep of noise since we left the mansion. Surely anyone who might have been hiding out here at one point is long gone by now."

Adam shrugged at his brother's observation. "True. But that does not mean there is nothing out here to find."

* * *

The two traveled in the same direction they had last seen Arnold. Eve led the way as he seemed rather sure of himself when it came to hunting down their long-lost ally. They eventually came to a narrow clearing where Eve abruptly stopped moving forward.

He suddenly pointed toward a particular tree in the distance. Adam pushed up his glasses and promptly headed towards it. The closer he came to it, the more clearly he could see an odd symbol carved into its trunk.

"What is that," he asked aloud, baffled by what he was seeing. He recalled some of the stranger texts he and Eve read up on in the past. Adam knew he had never seen such a sigil before, but it still brought back memories to a specific genre of book he had come across during his research on the humans of the past.

"Looks like one of those symbols we used to read about in those occult books," Eve informed.

"That's just what I was thinking," Adam replied with a nod.

Before Eve could make his response, a familiar, hushed voice called out to them from somewhere up ahead.

" _Adam, Eve? Is that you?_ "

"Arnold," asked Adam. "Is that you? Where are you?"

"Move forward," Arnold called out, all the while still trying to keep his voice down for whatever reason.

The duo did as told. They crept through a line of brush and just past that tree, Adam nearly tripped over Arnold who was crouched down on the ground, hidden behind a glowing shrub.

He gestured for them to get down and so they did without question. Once they were all hidden, Arnold pointed into a much larger clearing up ahead. A small circular field illuminated only by the glowing plants that surrounded the area.

Adam and Eve quickly noticed similar symbols drawn not only on various trees in the area, but a massive circle carved into the ground. At the very center of this circle which was filled with celestial lines and archaic runes, a dark figure laid there, motionless and lifeless.

They stared at this person until their eyes were able to adjust to this change in lighting and were able to make out a few details of the stranger. Upon seeing those details, the stranger could easily be recognized.

Arnold grinned greedily at the opportunity at hand. He freed his sword from its scabbard and snickered quietly to himself.

"There she is," he whispered with cruel enthusiasm. "She's just lying there. She couldn't be more vulnerable."

"Careful, friend," Adam advised with a sigh. "This could be a trap. It all seems just a bit too convenient, doesn't it? Besides, what of all these symbols? Something is clearly wrong with this picture. I wouldn't take another step forward until we can survey more of the surrounding area."

"Nonsense," Arnold hissed back. "This is the perfect time to strike. Just keep watch from here and let me know if you see anything odd."

"It's _your_ funeral," Adam warned, but Arnold did not bother listening.

Despite Adam's halfhearted pleas, Arnold pressed on through the vegetation and entered the clearing. He approached the heretical circle, watching the trees constantly as he went.

He did not get very far before an arc of lightning suddenly shot down from the heavens and struck the woman on the ground. The lightning was followed by a loud crackling of thunder. The unexpected scene caused Arnold to jump in fright, falling to the ground after he so quickly lost his balance.

Suddenly, the culprit rose from the ground, her body still smoking. 2B looked around in confusion. Realizing that she was still somehow alive from such an incident, Arnold quickly got onto his feet and took up a proper stance.

His eyes locked with the automaton's, or at least, he assumed so but it was impossible to tell with that ridiculous blindfold covering her face.

Regardless of that freak occurrence, it did not deter Arnold at all from his prime goal. "2B was it," Arnold asked, not exactly expecting an answer, nor caring if his assumption was correct for that matter. "An interesting display but we will not be intimidated. Throw down your arms and kneel if you want your miserable existence to end here and now. I promise to end your life as swiftly as I possibly can."

2B ignored his taunts. She immediately examined her own body, noticing a line of stitches on her left arm.

Arnold studied her odd behavior. He wondered if she was even aware of the fact that she was just struck by a massive bolt of blue lightning.

"I'm offering you the chance to surrender," Arnold demanded. "Any further hesitation and I'll..."

" _Right to the point! Now, that I can appreciate_ ," Adam spoke out from behind, interrupting Arnold's threat. Both he and the culprit turned to face him. Eve followed closely behind him.

2B froze in place upon seeing these two. She seemed more paralyzed in fear by them than she did Arnold. Something the boy immediately noticed. Naturally, to assert his own dominance over all three of them, he was the first to step forward, walking swiftly toward her with his sword in hand.

2B immediately stood up, grabbing the sword that was placed on the ground next to her. The blade was covered in slowly drying blood from her previous kill.

"I thought you two were going to stay behind and cower in fear of some nonexistent trap," Arnold snarled.

"Just exercising caution," Adam said with a cocky smile that irritated Arnold to no end. The bespectacled man then turned his attention back to his soon-to-be opponent. "Unfortunately for you, my brother, Arnold, and I have a couple of friends who both agree that you should be eradicated from this strange forest. Being the good friends that we are, we decided to oblige them and therefore, today, their wish will be granted. If you are not going to opt for the easy way out, then I suggest you start running."

"You guys are here too!? When did you…" She abruptly cut herself off at random.

Silently, 2B stared forward, visibly intimidated by something in the distance. It was obvious to Arnold that he was not the source of this intimidation. Of course, it never occurred to him to simply turn around and see for himself what had caused her to quiet down so suddenly. Neither Adam nor Eve even noticed this change in behavior.

Out of nowhere, 2B attempted to flee. She cried out as she turned and ran. "Get out of his way! Get out of the forest! All of you, _run!_ "

It was much easier said than done.

" _Coward_ ," Arnold shouted. "Stop her!"

"On it," Adam replied, snickering mischievously.

Adam lifted his arm in her direction. An arc of yellow light was suddenly released from his hand and traveled toward her. 2B had no chance of blocking it as she was not even paying attention. All too easily, she was knocked to the ground.

Arnold did not bother questioning what he had assumed was the most obvious display of witchcraft one could possibly witness. He charged forward and was upon 2B long before the dust had a chance to settle.

He swung his sword downward only for his attack to be blocked at the last second. 2B just barely managed to move her sword in between herself and Arnold. She was forced to hold him off all the while her back was to the ground.

Adam approached them with his usual calm smirk. "You are definitely acting strangely. Oh well, I suppose it won't matter after..."

His words were cut off by the sound of a disturbance going on behind him. Arnold paid no attention as he was far too busy focusing on a means to overpower his opponent.

Adam immediately turned around only to find his brother struggling to defend himself against some blurry opponent. A large figure that appeared to be flying in the air above him. Adam hesitated as he tried to focus on this newcomer. He could describe it as nothing short of an infernal monster with large leather wings and a warped body that held a resemblance to numerous animals.

"What is that," he inquired in shock, a reaction that did not really help take the pressure off of his brother.

"Apollyon," 2B called back. "Don't fight him! Just run!"

Right on queue, Apollyon validated 2B's warning. He reached forward with his long claws and sliced through the flesh of Eve's throat. Blood spewed from the wound. A horrific gurgling sound filled Adam's ears as he listened and watched as his brother suffered a swift but painful death.

Before Adam had time to even think of a means of defending himself, Apollyon was already upon him. The demon swung one of his massive wings forward and knocked Adam off his feet. As he tried to recover from his fall, Apollyon lifted up his right foot and brought it down upon Adam's neck. A loud cracking sound quickly followed.

By the time Arnold had finally decided to look over his shoulder both of his allies were lying lifeless on the ground and Apollyon was already advancing on him at a rapid speed. He froze, not in shock or fear, but confusion. He had no idea what he was looking at. He could not figure out why Adam and Eve were bleeding on the ground. Arnold's brain simply had not processed what he was seeing in a timely manner.

2B threw Arnold off of her both to give herself a chance to either flee or fight while simultaneously removing him from the threat of imminent danger. To her surprise, Apollyon immediately went for Arnold. Realizing that he was still disorientated and thus, the far easier target, 2B moved to block the demon's path to another quick kill.

A fiery bolt manifested in his hand as he flew toward her. She barely managed to intercept him with her sword, but she was able to stop him at the last second. His bolt solidified as it locked in place with her sword. She could hardly keep the demon at bay with his unnatural strength.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her torso. A cold blade had been thrust into her back. 2B slowly turned to look over her shoulder. Not but a second after saving his life and Arnold had turned his blade against her yet again.

Just like that, she was left unable to defend herself. As she stood there, choking on her own blood, Apollyon backed off momentarily. He watched like a carrion bird, waiting for her to die on her own.

Arnold allowed himself to fall back to the ground after running his opponent through. She was still standing, but she was clearly on the brink of death. A moment later and she collapsed to her knees. 2B then promptly fell face first into the dirt.

It was only then when Arnold finally got a good look at this third party. A tall and imposing creature who 2B had called _Apollyon_.

He saw a flaming bolt in the creature's left hand. There was nothing natural about this creature. An abomination that could only have been spawned from the depths of the same infernal dimension that surely awaited him in the afterlife.

His eyes wandered away from the demon that was on the verge of finishing him off and toward the bodies that littered Apollyon's path. All three of his enemies were dead. Ghiaccio's wish had been fulfilled. Knowing this, he could at least die without any regret Not that he had any other choice in the matter.

Before Arnold could turn back to face his murderer, he felt that flaming arrow penetrate his chest. His death came instantaneously.

Apollyon relaxed after the last straggler had been killed. The demon stared at the destruction he had caused. It all happened far too quickly to prove satisfying. Such an easy fight could never sate his thirst for violence.

He wanted to do it all over again, and so he did.


	9. Demonic Fire

_Note: For those who aren't aware, I have already released the first chapter of Quartz which is the side story to Xibalba. Instead of making it a crossover just like Crocodile Tears, I decided to base it entirely around the Nier characters who did not quite make it into Crocodile Tears despite all of the plans I had for some of them._

 _I'll go into more detail on the note below this chapter._

* * *

 **Demonic Fire**

Adam and Arnold hid behind a tree while the rest of the forest was slowly being consumed by infernal fire. Eve lied on the ground before them, soaked in his own blood. He remained motionless until a lightning bolt struck him out of nowhere.

The two watched as he rose up like a zombie only to scratch his head and wonder how he got into this position.

Adam calmly took out a sharp rock from his pocket and aimed it at the tree trunk to his right where he drew a tally mark where he had already engraved Eve's name.

"Well, that puts you at five deaths, brother," Adam explained as if such a statement was nothing to be surprised about.

Surprised by Adam's words, Eve quickly turned back to face his brother in confusion. "What? I died again?"

"Yes. That also puts you ahead of me by two," Adam replied. "2B is on her fourth life and Arnold has still only died once which means he's doing significantly better than the rest of us. We're going to have to improve our performance if we wish to come out on top."

"Clearly, my skill is unrivaled," Arnold confidently boasted.

Adam merely rolled his eyes at this misplaced cockiness. "Yes, or your cowardice knows no bounds. You haven't moved from this spot since we first engaged. How about giving us a hand next time, hmm?"

"I haven't been sitting here doing nothing this whole time," Arnold debated.

"I never said..."

" _Basically_ ," the kid continued, interrupting Adam before he could finish his thought. "That demon is just too fast. You two have been charging in each time from different angles which is great and all, but we've gained nothing but a few scars. I suggest we wait until that witch has him well and truly distracted at which point, we move in slowly and quietly to get the jump on him."

"Easier said than done," Adam murmured with a look of disbelief. "I'm going to recommend something that you aren't going to want to hear, but just hear me out. What if we were to team up, _only briefly_ , with 2B. I'm telling you, it would make this fight far more manageable. We might actually stand a chance against what is clearly the greater threat. I'm sure Ghiaccio and Robin would agree if they were here."

Arnold immediately shook his head. He did not even bother listening to Adam's argument. He heard exactly what he did not want to hear this heresy.

"No! We'll do it my way! They're both our enemies so kill them both!"

With a wrathful gaze, the boy studied 2B's struggle to keep herself alive as she fought all alone against an enemy she could not hope to defeat.

"Adam, I'll leave it to you to make the call when we move out."

"Whatever you say, Arnold. Hope we don't all die horribly this time."

* * *

Robin and Ghiaccio took a stroll around the property long after those annoying little robots had finally left.

Ghiaccio was cackling like a madman after they headed out, but now he was growing a bit impatient to see a pile of metal corpses bleeding out on the forest floor. He kept looking towards the trees that surrounded his property in hopes that he would see at least one of them returning to the mansion after they had completed his task. Of course, he fully intended to kill any survivors, but unfortunately, he could not do that when he had no idea where they were.

"Oh, for the love of God," Ghiaccio hissed. "This is taking forever!"

Robin stopped in his tracks and stared down at the serpent coiled around his neck with an emotionless gaze. "You're very impatient for an ambush predator, you know that? I told you this would happen. I knew you would start complaining as soon as they left. You should have just gone with them."

The two continued to bicker, or rather, Ghiaccio argued with Robin who merely listened to him, regretting the fact that even responded. They turned a corner where Robin quickly spotted something in the distance. A glimmering figure hovering just above the ground. Its appearance was familiar and only took a few moments for Robin to fully process what he was seeing.

The mere sight of this abomination annoyed Robin. He let out a dramatic huff and removed his hood from his head.

"Good grief," he coldly remarked. "Not another one."

* * *

Problems in Arnold's plan rose immediately after Adam gave the call to charge forward. He vividly recalled telling the brothers to attack Apollyon while he alone went off to engage with 2B. However, his plan did not go as intended.

Arnold was just about to attack 2B. She noticed him closing in on her position and briefly turned her attention away from Apollyon in preparation for his attack.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Eve stepped in between them and launched a barrage of that strange golden light both he and his brother utilized so often. Naturally, this enraged Arnold.

While 2B was forced to defend herself, Arnold stormed up to Eve and violently grabbed his shoulder. He grabbed Eve's shoulder and twirled him around, forcing him to meet Arnold's wrathful glare.

"What the hell are you doing!? Go and distract Apollyon! Once I kill the witch, we were to focus all of our efforts on the demon!"

Eve stared back at him in confusion. "What? You told me to hold off 2B while you and Adam attacked that monster..."

A large, scaly hand abruptly wrapped around the back of Eve's head and slammed him into the ground before he could finish his sentence. Apollyon soared high above Eve with a fiery bolt in hand. Arnold had plenty of time to jump between them, blocking the bolt with his sword and thus saving everyone for a short while, but he made no attempt to go out of his way to spare Eve.

Were it not for his brother, Eve would have had a sixth tally mark drawn on that tree they had converted into a scoreboard.

An arc of golden radiance came out of nowhere, enveloping Apollyon. This light dragged the demon from its spot in the air and flung him into a nearby tree line. Arnold and Eve turned to give a thankful nod to Adam.

"Good work," Arnold congratulated. He glinted at 2B who was still standing firmly out of danger's way. He suddenly rushed towards Eve and hoisted his ally up off the ground.

"Eve! Take care of the witch! Your brother and I will ward off the demon. Make quick work of your opponent and come help us! And don't you dare get it mixed up this time!"

Without bothering to hear if Eve had a better idea, which he surely could not rival Arnold's tactical prowess, or so the boy thought; Arnold ran towards Adam.

The bespectacled twin kept his eyes focused on the dust cloud surrounding the vicinity Apollyon had landed. He kept on guard, waiting for the moment when Apollyon would recuperate and come right back at him.

"Adam!"

Adam glanced over his shoulder the moment he heard his name being called over the crackling of the infernal flames that crackled around them. He noticed Arnold standing behind him with his sword in hand.

"I've got your back!"

Adam nodded in response and pointed to the figure that was slowly beginning to emerge from the tree line. "Then be ready. I fear I've only thoroughly pissed him off."

Nothing could be further from the truth given Apollyon's behavior. The beast let out a wrathful howl that echoed throughout the forest. With another flaming bolt in hand, Apollyon batted his wings and flew straight at them, now determined to completely eradicate these automatons from his forest.

* * *

Robin glared at his new opponent. Silence filled the air. Neither he nor the floating robot spoke to each other. They merely glared at one another, waiting for their opponent to make the first move.

Eventually, Ghiaccio grew bored of waiting. It was obvious that they would have to kill this abomination. Ghiaccio could not in good conscience let such a monster live. Despite this, he was still somewhat curious about what will very soon become a lifeless pile of scrap, if the thing could even be considered 'alive' to begin with.

"Who are you," Ghiaccio asked in a stern tone. " _What_ are you?"

"I am Pod 042," the robot flatly replied. "I am a support pod for YoRHa Unit 2B."

"And let me guess," Ghiaccio continued, a devious grin slowly taking form on his reptilian face as he spoke. "That creature Robin, here, killed belonged to Arnold?"

"Affirmative. You have destroyed Pod 153 who's assignment was to support YoRHa Unit 9S or _Arnold_ as you call him.

Ghiaccio liked where this conversation was going. Just rubbing in the fact that one of these abominations had already been slain gave him great satisfaction.

"So what are you going to do about it," asked the serpent. He already knew the answer. That was made obvious by his mocking smile.

"Protocol is clear," Pod 042 elaborated, his emotionless tone remained completely unchanged. "You two have worked to hinder communications between YoRHa personnel, destroyed vital equipment, and have conspired to murder said personnel. These actions cannot be allowed to continue. I am within my right to use force if necessary."

The serpent let out an obnoxious laugh. He was clearly ready to watch Robin defeat, torture, and murder this machine but Robin himself was not so quick to respond to this legitimate threat with violence.

"I find this confusing," Robin coldly proclaimed. "From what I have heard since you metal creatures started popping up all over our forest is that you YoRHa units, as you call yourselves, were created to defend humans. Does that mean you are breaking one protocol to adhere to another?"

The pod floated in silence for awhile. Robin tilted his head, curious about what sort of response the machine could come up with. Eventually, the creature finally made its response. It was exactly as Robin had predicted. A mere justification for a total contradiction.

"My current analysis leads me to believe we are a world away from YoRHa jurisdiction," the metal critter informed. "I am forced to act based on my own accord as Pod 153 did in its attempt to return Unit 9S's memories. I will annihilate you both as it is the only way to end the terror you continuously inflict upon us and countless others. It is unclear to me if my cognitive processes with illogical ideas. However, I can at least be certain about one thing. Until now, the concept of evil has been abstract to me. Until I met you, that is. You, Ghiaccio, are the pinnacle of evil."

Robin did not expect much more from such a simple and soulless entity. He was at least impressed that this tool could communicate with him at all. That alone counted for something in his mind.

* * *

Adam followed Arnold as they attempted to retreat. He knew Arnold had a plan of some sorts, but the boy never bothered to fill him in, nor had the time to do so if he even wanted to. Apollyon was right behind them, closing in as they fled the clearing.

He did not dare turn back as it would surely be enough of a distraction for the demon to catch up to him which was the absolute last thing he wanted. The more this fight went on, the more the challenge seemed impossible to overcome.

As he ran for a nearby hill, he could not help but ponder as to why he had not simply grabbed his brother and fled the battlefield.

"Arnold," Adam shouted in a demanding tone. The boy did not stop running nor did so much as a glance over his shoulder but Adam knew full well that he was listening. "We need to retreat! We cannot win against this monster! We need to fall back to the mansion and warn the others! Let 2B die on her own! Her resistance will give us enough time to retreat!"

Despite the unstoppable beast charging them, Arnold did the unthinkable. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Adam.

"Not one step backward, coward," the boy screamed in rage. "That thing can fly so we need to elevate ourselves as much as possible! We're going to take that fucking hill and knock the bastard out of the sky! _Now, move!_ "

Ironically, Adam, who never stopped moving was the first to be attacked. He felt a monstrous hand grab his shoulder and dig into his flesh. He tore himself away from the beast's grasp, gladly sacrificing a chunk of his shoulder as opposed to being killed yet again.

He moved away from Apollyon as the demon prepared to lunge at him again. Suddenly, Apollyon betrayed his expectations. The monster did not move an inch forward, and yet, Adam winced in pain as he felt something pierce his torso. He slowly looked down to see what was causing this pain.

Adam gazed down at Apollyon's tail. Its arrowhead tip had cut deep into his stomach. The last thing he expected to be used as a weapon was what ended his life for the third time.

When Apollyon pulled his tail free from Adam's body, the machine fell to the ground in defeat. Arnold witnessed the whole thing. He stood ready, knowing full well that he now had no chance of reaching that hill.

As he examined the demon that slowly approached him, Arnold noticed a pair of items being held Apollyon's left hand. After a moment of staring, he finally figured out what he was looking at.

2B and Eve were already slain. Their heads dangled in the air while Apollyon gripped them with his claws. Arnold felt a lot less confident when it finally dawned on him. He would be facing this demon alone.

He did not try to run. He stood still with his sword pointed at Apollyon which served more as a silent plea rather than a warning for Apollyon not to come any closer. A message that Apollyon ignored without a second thought.

Arnold's hands trembled as Apollyon continued to advance. He knew that he was not long for this world, and he was not wrong in that assumption.

* * *

It truly was a hopeless endeavor. Arnold came to accept this inevitable fact after he was risen from the dead, courtesy of the same infernal being that did him in.

Once again, 2B was left alone to fight against Apollyon while the others stood back and watched. Arnold was the only one coming up with plans at this point. Adam and Eve gave up after their last failed attempt and were simply sitting there, pointing out holes in his poor strategies.

Even Arnold was losing his will to fight on. Everything they had tried thus far was ending in failure. As much as he wanted to believe they were making progress, Arnold could not deny the blindingly obvious.

"Any better ideas," asked Adam. "Because if not, then may I recommend something."

"What," Arnold huffed as he stared at their opponents while they dueled in the distance.

"I vote to retreat and regroup," Adam proudly informed. "Since you seem to utterly despise the idea of working with 2B then I propose we fall back to the mansion and warn Ghiaccio and Robin of this new threat. Surely, with all of our combined efforts, this beast would fall. Granted, I still predict a painful struggle but it's better than simply throwing ourselves at the enemy, over and over again until we either win or our bodies are ground to dust."

Arnold failed to come up with a better strategy. As much as he tried to emulate Robin, he was no substitute for a true tactician, and Arnold had yet to meet a single person who was more cunning than Ghiaccio. Surely, both of them together could excel in a situation like this.

It was either regroup with them or side with that vile machine. Continuing to fight alongside Adam and Eve was enough of an insult. He simply could not tolerate the latter option. Without much of a better alternative, Arnold finally agreed.

"Fine," he growled. "Lead the way home."

* * *

Ghiaccio was growing increasingly more bored with the pod. It did not help that Robin was only keeping that ridiculous looking robot talking with all of his questions.

The pod continued to answer any questions Robin had. For once, it was him doing the asking as Ghiaccio had lost all interest in much of anything apart from murdering this machine.

"Here's what I don't understand," Robin stated, ignoring Ghiaccio's melodramatic sigh. "You claim to have revived this three-ring circus after they had all perished shortly after this large tower erupted from underneath your city. Neither Adam nor Eve have bothered to mention such an occurrence. Also, I find your memory to be suspicious as well. Your story is the only one I've heard thus far that has absolutely no holes in it. Even I cannot fully remember my life prior to coming here so what gives you the right to keep all of your memories?"

"It is not a right," Pod 042 informed. "I have found my own memory to be corrupted, however, all support pods contain backup memories for their assigned YoRHa unit. I have pieced together what I know with the preserved memories of Units A2, 2B, and 9S. At any rate, all of us were eliminated. I can confirm our destruction without a doubt."

The pod hesitated only for a short while. Ghiaccio had hoped he was finally finished rambling, but the serpent was quickly disappointed.

"We returned our units to full working condition only to achieve the same result that we worked to undo. We even separated them beforehand, yet the result was still the same. Despite Unit 9S's grief no longer being a factor, he immediately sought out Unit A2. After a battle that left both of them grievously wounded, Unit 9S was on the verge of losing. Instead of allowing Unit A2 the victory which would have spared us all, he chose to detonate his black box. A crucial component which is installed in every YoRHa android. The blast enveloped a large portion of the city, killing us all. I still cannot comprehend this action as the explosion also killed Unit 2B which was his primary motive for murdering Unit A2. I fear it will forever remain a mystery to me. Even his memories suggest nothing in regards to a motive."

Eventually, Ghiaccio shouted at the both of them, demanding an end to this seemingly endless conversation. "For the love of God, shut the fuck up! Robin! Kill this pile of scrap so we can get on with the rest of our day!"

Robin drew his sword at long last. He had finally heard enough, although, he was very interested in this bomb that was apparently nestled somewhere inside Arnold's body. He would have to revisit that topic later as Ghiaccio would surely find a weapon of mass destruction useful.

Apparently, Ghiaccio was thinking the exact same thing.

"Tell ya what, though, robot," Ghiaccio continued. "If you can tell us how to activate said bomb then I'd totally let you live."

"Negative," the pod replied. "Information on the black box, aside from confirmation of its existence is prohibited. I cannot allow you to gain access to this equipment nor can I remain idle while you work to destroy active YoRHa units."

"Then stop barking and start biting, robot," Ghiaccio demanded with a cocky smile. "After all, I'm the pinnacle of evil, right? Can't let someone like me carry on living, now, can you?"

Robin did not wait for the pod's response. He charged the machine, drawing his Levin sword, ready to destroy this creature in the same way he destroyed the first.

* * *

 _Note: As Crocodile Tears comes to a close, I should mention some of the stuff that never made it into the final story. To start with, A2 was intended to make an appearance in these final chapters. She was actually supposed to be killed off rather quickly as I had planned to have Arnold and the others stumbling upon her while she slept as opposed to 2B. Arnold, Adam, and Eve were to have mistaken her for 2B and killed her._

 _Pascal was also supposed to be featured in a more standalone story arc taking place at around the same time as 2B's conflict with Ghiaccio and his followers. Pascal was to have the misfortune of waking up on the north side of the river and running into the major antagonist of_ _Xibalba_ _, Yvo. The reason I cut this part of the story was that it was simply too unrelated to everything that was going on. I figured such a plot would be better suited for_ _Quartz_ _._

 _Devola and Popola were also cut from the story. They along with Operator 6O and the Commander were all given brief roles in which 2B comes across them being tormented in various ways by Apollyon's acolytes. However, when I cut all of the other monster encounters to focus on Apollyon himself, all of this was removed as well._

 _If I remember correctly, the Commander was supposed to be thrown into a vat of boiling oil, Devola and Popola were to be weighed down with massive boulders strapped to their backs and forced to walk until they collapsed. I never figured out what I wanted to do to 6O but I knew it would have to be fucked up. She was just so innocent and harmless for most of the game which obviously means she would have to get the worst of it._

 _This is primarily why I released Quartz. This project was supposed to be either a crossover with Steins;Gate and all of my initial ideas did not involve Nier:Automata. I most certainly did not want Quartz to be completely revolved around the Nier characters. However, the original idea I had which would have been a crossover between the two was in no way a stand-alone plot. So, I went a different direction._


	10. Reprise

**Reprise**

The familiar sight of the mansion was a welcome one. Adam, Eve, and Arnold all gave a collective sigh of relief the moment the stepped out into the clearing.

One of the first things they noticed was the pike Robin had left on the front lawn to serve as a warning to deter the more hostile elements of the forest from trespassing on the land. Another unlucky machine had been added to the pike since they had been gone. Aside from the color scheme, it looked almost identical to the one Robin had slain near the cenote.

The trio passed the corpses by. Both Eve and Arnold ignored them completely, but Adam noticed something that the others did not. As they silently moved on, not bothering to question the self-explanatory, Adam took a closer look at the metal corpse.

He leaned forward and stroked the surface of the pod's rectangular body with his index finger. He felt a thin layer of frost covering the pod. This made no sense to him. It was insanely hot in the forest at all times. The humidity levels were also at absurd heights. However, this one dead pod seemed to be quite literally frozen and the ice covering its body showed no signs of melting anytime soon.

" _Brother_ ," Eve's voice rang out. "Are you coming?"

Adam backed away from the curious sight and promptly pushed up his glasses. "Right. Let us continue."

* * *

Arnold threw open the front door and stepped inside the dark entrance hall. He looked around but saw no signs of life inside. He immediately turned to the right and entered the dining room. Surely enough, Robin was sitting in his usual chair at the table, casually reading through an old book.

Robin's gaze slowly lifted from the book where he proceeded to stare at Arnold with a soul-piercing glare.

"Back so soon," he flatly inquired. "I hope you at least left that woman's head outside so her blood cannot stain the floors."

Arnold shifted uneasily after hearing Robin's expectations. The moment Arnold avoided eye contact before he even had the chance to utter a single word was when Robin had him completely figured out.

"You failed, didn't you?"

Luckily for Arnold, Adam came to his rescue. He stepped out of the entrance hall and entered the room with a more confident posture.

"I assure you that we had her back to the wall," Adam pridefully proclaimed. "Er, well, to a tree. However, we were met with an unexpected problem."

"What problem," asked Robin.

Adam recalled the events of earlier while he attempted to think of a way to explain it all to someone who was not there to see it unfold first hand. "We were attacked, by a demon."

Robin's reaction was about what Adam had expected. He merely lifted a brow in confusion, remaining quiet while Adam went on with his story.

"A demon who killed us. Several times, in fact," Adam continued, realizing how preposterous his story sounded. None the less, he pressed on with this bizarre tale. "We were unable to gain the upper hand on our own. We lack the tactical prowess to deal with such an adept fighter. At the moment, 2B is still fighting against the demon. We all agreed to retreat and ask for your aid."

With a blank expression, Robin merely rolled his eyes. He then lifted his head up and called out, allowing his voice to echo throughout this haunted mansion.

" _Ghiaccio!_ "

The serpent soon answered Robin's call. He slithered his way out of the shadows and found his place on top of Robin's shoulders where he immediately glared at Adam, Eve, and Arnold. Seeing that his plan did not go over so well was a bit upsetting for the serpent.

He let out a cold sigh and responded to their presence. "Oh, look, Robin," he exclaimed with sarcasm that was obvious only to Robin. "Our friends are back. All three of them are completely alive and totally unharmed… _What fucking luck!_ "

Arnold immediately gave the viper an apologetic bow. "Sorry, Ghiaccio! Were it up to me, we would still be out there fighting! It was these two who wished we retreat."

"Nobody likes a tattletale," Adam snickered.

"Yeah, _Arnold!_ You asshole," Ghiaccio agreed. "You asshole! So, what the hell happened out there? Judging by what you just said, I'm guessing you don't have what's her face's head on that pike outside."

Adam explained the whole situation to them. He went largely uninterrupted apart from the few times in which Arnold chimed in to inform Ghiaccio that everything was under his control, but these claims were all met with a similar response. This insightful response advised Arnold to simply 'shut the fuck up.'

Once Adam had finished his spiel Ghiaccio sat quietly, thinking back on the nonsense he had just heard.

"So, let me get this crystal clear," Ghiaccio nonchalantly spoke out. "You guys got attacked out of nowhere by a demon who killed you all so fast; he felt the need to revive you just to wipe the forest floor with your sorry asses a couple more times? So, after a couple severe beatings, you decided to come back here where its safe, right?"

"That's pretty much it," Eve concluded.

"Talk about a bizarre adventure," the serpent murmured.

Ghiaccio then turned to Robin, clearly waiting for his insight into this new and very inconvenient problem.

Robin gestured to the door and spoke softly to the others in the room. "Leave us."

Nothing more needed to be said. Without a whisper of debate, Adam, Eve, and Arnold all retreated from the room, leaving Robin and Ghiaccio free to plot their fates.

* * *

Arnold returned to his room and immediately collapsed onto his bed. He looked toward the small window that gave him a narrow view of the world outside.

His mind raced as he began thinking up ways on how this situation could possibly be solved from that seemingly unstoppable demon to all of the heinous automatons that were operating both within and outside of the manor.

His eyes wandered to the ground. He glared at the vague outline of his shadow underneath the blue light shining in from the window. Arnold knew it was staring right back at him, silently laughing at his failure.

Gritting his teeth in rage, he lifted himself up off the bed and shouted at the aura of darkness that followed him wherever he went.

" _Shut up!_ "

* * *

With their disposable allies gone, Ghiaccio waited for Robin's input on the situation. He quietly sat in his seat, tapping on the table over and over again.

After growing a bit bored with Robin's silence, Ghiaccio decided to make his own assessment.

"We got two options here. We can send them back with some made up strategy and hope they don't come back, or we can get involved and kick some ass."

"I fear that if we leave this situation alone it will only get worse," Robin argued. "I grow tired for these metal abominations running around. I want them out of our hair but I can say the same for this new threat that appears to be looming."

Ghiaccio shook his head, nearly losing himself in contemplation. "Nothing adds up. Why are we being attacked? Hell, are we even being attacked? Arnold and the others might have just found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. Shit like that happens, ya know."

"I won't deny that as a possibility," Robin agreed. "However, I would prefer not to wait and find out in the future when we might not be prepared for an attack from such a creature."

"So, what's the plan? You got a strategy in mind?"

Robin quickly shook his head in denial. "I do not have a strategy yet. However, I can ensure that you and I will be the only ones to survive the encounter. I will make absolutely certain that all of them will die. Of course, the choice is ultimately up to you. What will you have me do, Ghiaccio?"

For once, Ghiaccio did not have an immediate answer. He was left thinking for a while. Robin remained silent, waiting for the decision to be made.

Ghiaccio finally drew a long breath and gave his final answer. "Alright. Let's do it!"

* * *

After coming up with a proper plan to ensure their goals would be met, Ghiaccio and Robin split up. Ghiaccio slithered into the living room where Adam and Eve sat next to the fireplace which had not been used in quite some time.

Upon entry, he immediately gained the attention of the twins. All it took was a quick rattle of his tail to get them to turn their heads.

"Alright, boys. Before we do this, there's something we need to discuss."

"Certainly," Adam agreed. "I hope it has something to do with that human you said I would be allowed to study."

"You can dissect Lucina later," Ghiaccio retorted. "For now, just know that Arnold ain't gonna be around forever."

Ghiaccio noticed the blank stares he was getting. He rolled his eyes at the thought of having to explain what should be a pretty obvious hint, or at least in his mind.

"He's outlived his usefulness to us. He's a goddamn burden and I want him dead. You understand?"

Adam appeared rather shocked by this proclamation. "You want us to kill him," Adam inquired in a bewildered tone.

"Did I not make myself clear!? I said the kid's a burden! He's utterly useless! He's nothing but dead weight! Hell, I need no justification! Just do it! If you want us to help you capture Lucina for whatever creepy experiments you have in mind then you're gonna have to help us too. Just wait for my signal. When I give the word, I expect his head to roll that fucking instant!"

With that said, Ghiaccio promptly turned around and slithered right out of the room. Adam watched the snake with suspicion as he left.

Killing an android was not exactly a new concept for he and his brother. However, the thought that Ghiaccio would just up and decide to kill off one of his allies, and such a dedicated one at that, was concerning to say the very least.

* * *

Robin knocked on Arnold's door. It was the first place he bothered to check and sure enough, his hunch would be proven correct.

Arnold opened the door and poked his head out. He shuttered in nervousness at the sight of Robin's cold and ruthless glare. It was rare for them to meet alone in such a manner. Normally, Ghiaccio acted as a middle ground between the two of them.

Robin hardly ever felt the need to even acknowledge Arnold's existence, let alone socialize with him. Arnold had always wanted to reach more friendly terms with Robin, but after all of his failed attempts, such a task seemed impossible.

In an uncharacteristically meek tone, Arnold spoke to Robin to prevent this silence from continuing long enough to become awkward. "What's going on?"

"You ready?"

Arnold's face went pale at the thought of returning. It was all fun to talk about jumping back into the fray and slaying that demon, but knowing it was actually about to happen made him feel a little less confident. None the less, Arnold nodded his head. "Let me just go get my sword."

"Well, hurry up."

* * *

Everyone met back up in the entrance hall. Ghiaccio reclaimed his spot atop Robin's shoulders and examined his little group of followers. They all appeared either willing to die for him or simply wishing to cooperate. Either scenario is an obvious victory for him.

"Normally," Ghiaccio announced. "This would be the part where I give you guys some bad ass speech before we go fight the bad guys, but honestly..."

Ghiaccio let out a loud yawn right before he could finish that thought.

"Fuck that noise. Let's just go so we can get back." The serpent then turned back to face Robin. "You got anything you wanna add or are we good to go?"

"I believe we forgot to mention our change of plans in regards to what exactly we want to do with that 2B character that's been running around as of late."

Ghiaccio widened his eyes in remembrance. How could he possibly forget to mention that? He quickly nodded his head and kept quiet while Robin elaborated further.

"You all have probably already noticed the visitor Ghiaccio and I had while you were gone. Its corpse is currently resting on the pike outside. Before we destroyed it, though, the thing gave us some interesting information."

Robin hesitated after concluding that little introduction. Ghiaccio then perked right back up and took his place. "Apparently, there is something called a Black Box hidden away somewhere in her body. The thing is some sort of crazy powerful component that can act as a weapon of mass destruction when under the right circumstances. Naturally, I want this thing but I can't use it if she's dead. That's the downside."

Arnold scratched his head as he tried to wrap his brain around what he was hearing. It was an extremely simple concept, but the idea of leaving her alive simply did not register in his mind.

"So," he hesitantly spoke. "We can't kill her?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm wondering," Ghiaccio informed as he glinted at Robin. "What are we supposed to do about her. She'll put up a fight and it will be a pain in the ass to keep a robot restrained. I assume they've got some crazy strength and all that. How do we handle this."

"Simple," Robin interjected. "The biggest issue we face is her resistance as we try to capture her in order to obtain this highly explosive box, correct?"

"Well, duh! That's what I just said," Ghiaccio argued. "What I want to know is how do we minimize that resistance?"

Robin let out a disappointed sigh at Ghiaccio's reaction. "Then cut off all four of her limbs and remove her tongue so that she is unable to either fight back or argue."

Nobody responded to his proposal. Arnold especially looked rather nervous about the concept. He wanted her dead, turned to a limbless, mute doll that is still fully alive. He got a few mental images and they disturbed him greatly.

With such a vague proposal, he was able to visualize the results in great detail with his morbid and ever curious imagination. He did not dare protest the idea and if it would prove useful in the future, then he saw no logical reason to oppose it.

He glinted to Adam and Eve just to see their expressions. They remained just as quiet as him and their facades were as unreadable as always.

Ghiaccio let out a laugh which made him the first person to break the silence. "My man, Robin," the serpent proudly exclaimed. "So brutal! That's why we love you!"

"A rather draconian measure," Adam added with an oddly serene grin. "But it would definitely make the process of imprisoning her so much easier. The only thing I wish to know is what need do you have for such a device? What massive target are you trying to eradicate?"

"At the moment, I myself don't even know. That said, it's still better to have a huge fuck off bomb and not need it than the other way around."

"I suppose," Adam remarked.

He did not look entirely convinced, but Ghiaccio could care less about what made sense to that machine and what did not.

"How are we going to kill the demon," Arnold abruptly inquired. "We should be worried about that since it's clearly the bigger threat."

"Leave that part to me," Robin ordered. "I will command you so listen to what I say when I say it. Do not make me repeat myself out there because it could mean your life. It would be a real shame if you got yourself killed for some stupid mistake. Do not act on your own and do not question me. If you can refrain from doing all of that then success is all but assured."

"Then it's settled," Ghiaccio cheered, eager to finally be leaving. "At this point, we're just killing time. Let's get a move on! I'm ready to kill some demons and torture some robots!"

"Of course you are," Robin sighed.

"Are we really to engage with that demon again," asked Adam. "It did not chase us down despite knowing that we left. Perhaps it isn't as interested in us as it is in our other enemy. If this is the case, then why not let them kill each other?"

The more he listened to their plans, the more he began to question the necessity of getting involved even further with a conflict that was clearly between 2B and that odd demon.

"Have you not been listening at all," Ghiaccio snapped in frustration. "There are two reasons why we're going to get involved. One, I don't like it when people fight each other this close to my property without first getting my approval. Second, I want that bomb! That Black Box thingy alone is more than enough reason to ensure she lives."

"Do you fear this Black Box would become useless if she dies? Could we not find some other way to detonate it? Forcing her to cooperate will be a tricky task even if we cut off her limbs. She will never detonate it out of her own fruition simply because it will probably destroy her and help us."

"Don't question it," Arnold demanded. "No one knows better than these two."

"You're damn right," Ghiaccio agreed with pride. "Now, let's get going."

Robin immediately headed for the front door and pulled it open. Adam and Eve followed without hesitation.

Arnold went for his sword which was resting on the stairs. He picked it up and rushed after them.

Being the last to leave, he took one look around the entrance hall. He breathed in the stale air one last time and smiled at the decrepit interior.

He looked forward to returning home when this coming conflict was over.

A return to normalcy would be very much welcome once all of these demons and robots become a thing of the past.


	11. Asphyxiation

**Asphyxiation**

The stench of smoke and rising heat told the group that they were close. Robin and Ghiaccio listened to distant howls as the battle waged on without them.

The duo tried to make sense of what they were hearing so that they could have a better assessment of the situation. Arnold and Adam's frantic explanations did not provide nearly enough information on what they were walking into.

It was clear they were fighting some sort of fire-breathing monster that could allegedly bring his dead victims back to life. It was a story as unbelievable as, well, humanoid robots fighting against an army of living machines.

"Sounds like we're getting closer," Ghiaccio announced. "Alright, here's the plan. Arnold, since you've got that sword, I want you to get uncomfortably close to our enemies and remain there. Serve as a distraction if anything."

He then turned to the twins marching alongside Robin. "Adam and Steve..."

Ghiaccio hesitated when he realized his own error. "Uh… I mean, Eve. Since you guys apparently have some fancy powers, I want you to hang back from a distance. Robin will pick the exact spots when we get there, but generally, we're gonna want Adam to stay near us. Eve, you need to find a spot in between us and Arnold. It'll be your job to make sure he doesn't get horribly murdered."

"If it's worth mentioning," Arnold stated with an intimidated gulp. "There was a hill in the area. We could use the high ground to our advantage."

"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Ghiaccio said with a roll of his eyes. "The fucker's got wings, don't he?"

Arnold nodded in response.

"Then how will higher ground help us? Won't he just fly higher?"

Ghiaccio groaned at Arnold's silence. The boy had an oddly embarrassed look on his face and for some reason, both Adam and Eve were snickering at him.

"Just leave the thinking up to Rob and I. You just do as your told and pray to God that you don't get killed doing it!"

* * *

2B ducked and dodged the various fiery bolts that flew at her. She realized the hard way that dodging these bolts simply was not enough to keep them from burning her alive. It was rare, rare enough to catch her off guard every time it happened despite how cautious she already was. However, the occasional bolt would swerve off course just to hit her or even follow her.

As Apollyon tossed another bolt her way, 2B watched it carefully as she dodged out of the way. The bolt did not change course the moment she moved. She watched it's path as she leaned as far away from it as possible. At the very last second, just before impaling the ground, the bolt turned in her direction and launched itself at her in mid-air.

The bolt exploded just above her head, sending the android flying into a nearby tree. Before 2B had a chance to figure out what had just happened, she felt Apollyon's claws dig into her back. The demon hoisted her up into the air with his feet and flew straight for the canopy like a predatory bird.

She turned and looked up to the canopy as the distance between her and it rapidly diminished. For a moment, she believed Apollyon would simply burst through it which would give her the chance to see the sky one last time.

Her expectations were betrayed just before reaching the canopy. Apollyon abruptly halted his ascension and threw her up in the air like a rag doll. As 2B panicked and flailed around in the air, her fingers barely managed to stroke the leaves above. Gravity immediately pulled her back down and as she fell toward her opponent, Apollyon stretched out his wings and span around in the air. Her torso was sliced in two when she made contact with one of his wings.

A trail of blood followed her all the way down. Her vision faded while Apollyon hovered in the air. His blood coated wings flapped back and forth while he watched her fall.

2B lost count of how many deaths she had suffered at the hands of this demonic entity. It was obvious to her that defeating this opponent on her own would be utterly impossible. Suddenly, joining the madness at Ghiaccio's mansion just for the sake of gaining a few companions to help her with this threat was looking rather tempting.

* * *

When 2B came to, she found herself lying on the ground. The first thing she noticed was a shady figure looming over her. A man with white hair and cold brown eyes stared down at her. A blue viper wrapped around his neck, staring straight back at her with an equally cold expression.

Cautiously, 2B pushed herself up off the ground and grabbed her sword which was lying on the ground to her left.

"Rise and shine," the serpent announced. He examined the various injuries and stitches that littered her body and snickered at her expense. "Having a bad day? Well, sorry to tell ya, but we're about to make it a whole hell of a lot worse."

2B immediately backed away from Robin and Ghiaccio. She cleared as much distance from them as possible. In that time, Robin did not move an inch forward. He merely stood there and observed her cautious behavior.

"You two," she murmured, almost completely forgetting about the ferocious demon that was probably still in the area.

Ghiaccio smiled at her. His scaly lips parted as he prepared to respond to her. "Don't you have a monster to fight," the serpent inquired. He then gestured toward something behind 2B with a nod of his head.

2B turned around and was immediately reminded of the winged beast she had been locked in a nonstop struggle with. Arnold, Adam, and Eve all surrounded Apollyon and attacked him for multiple angles in unison.

They moved in a far more organized manner. For once, Arnold and his little gang seemed to be working with a proper plan rather than mere reaction.

"Well," Ghiaccio called out to 2B, quickly regaining her attention. "You gonna go help your friend or what? Just keep in mind that this might be the last time you ever get a chance to see him breathing. Arnold's a bit of an unlucky kid, ya know? Misfortune seems to have more of a thing for him than you do."

The robot lashed out at Ghiaccio. Charging forward, 2B jabbed her sword straight for Robin's throat with the hope of killing them both. Out of nowhere, Robin drew a sword of his own at the very last second and blocked her attempt on their lives with ease.

2B glanced at their blades which remained locked in place. She noticed a strange breeze seeping from Robin's oddly shaped sword. It coated her weapon a thin sheet of frost that accumulated rapidly across the sword's surface. The temperature dropped all too suddenly. The tropical air around her suddenly felt like a frigid winter night.

"Careful, now," Robin muttered to her calmly. "Die by our hands and you will not be returning to our world."

"Maybe that's what she wants," Ghiaccio suggested with a cruel smile. "After all, it's not like she has any friends out here. None that are alive at any rate. How 'bout it, 2B? Wanna join 'em?"

"Answer me this," 2B requested, ignoring their infuriating taunts. "You clearly hate him so why waste your time? Why not just let me take him off your hands? I'll make sure you never see us again."

Ghiaccio glanced at Robin with a mocking smirk on his face. She knew her negotiations would fail, but she still felt compelled to try them. Her assumptions were confirmed when she saw Ghiaccio's reaction.

"Sorry, lady," Ghiaccio informed. "But I need to be sure there won't be anyone on my trail in the future. He's gotta die. You've gotta die. Everyone's gotta die today."

2B glanced back to the battle the others were having with Apollyon. Ghiaccio had just openly admitted his attempt out loud and yet, only she and Robin were able to hear it. Everyone else was still locked in a battle that consumed the entirety of their attention.

His words agonizing at the very least. 2B wanted to lunge at them again, but when she glanced back to the fight that was already going on, she could not help but notice how much Arnold was struggling to hold back Apollyon.

She gave them one last threatening look which failed to intimidate before darting off to offer assistance.

* * *

Apollyon grabbed a hold of Arnold's shirt and hoisted him into the air only to slam him back onto the ground like a rag doll.

Adam and Eve attempted to shield him with an arch of golden light as Apollyon took aim with one of his bolts. The barrier barely managed to hold its own against the infernal fire produced from the bolt's impact.

The moment the barrier crumbled, Apollyon was free to reach down at Arnold again, this time with the full intent of ripping his head off.

A sword practically flew into his peripherals from out of nowhere and blocked Apollyon's claws. The demon backed off for a split second only to charge his protector. 2B prepared to defend herself, ready for a counterattack, but ironically, she felt Arnold's foot fly upward and smash into her torso long before Apollyon could even reach her.

She instantly regretted saving him as she stumbled back. Arnold remained on the ground, intentionally allowing Apollyon a clear path to 2B. She had to throw herself onto the ground just to prevent herself from being decapitated by Apollyon's claws as the beast flew past her.

He swiftly twirled around and dove for her. An arch of golden light flared up in between them. Adam advanced from the safety of his previous position in an attempt to drive Apollyon back, giving 2B and Arnold a little breathing room.

"Eve," Robin's voice echoed across the infernal field. "Advance! Quickly!"

Eve obeyed without hesitation, launching an onslaught of that same ominous light towards Apollyon which would mark the first instance in which 2B witnessed an offensive attack against the monster.

Apollyon was finally forced into a defensive role as he blocked Eve's attack with relative ease, shielding his body with his wings. As he lost altitude, 2B took the opportunity to charge forward.

She engaged with him as soon as he touched the ground. She failed to land a cut on him. Each swing was blocked by the bolt in Apollyon's right hand.

" _Arnold_ ," Ghiaccio shouted in a wrathful tone. "Get your fucking ass in gear! We've got the bastard on the defensive at last! If we lose because you're slacking off then I swear to God, I'll kill you myself!"

" _Where do I go!?_ "

"Circle behind the enemy, you fool," Robin retorted. "Adam! Eve! Keep that thing occupied."

"Get over there and finish it off, Arnold," Ghiaccio screamed. "If you fail us now I'll rip your eyes out of their sockets!"

* * *

Arnold stood up off of the ground and observed his new objective. Adam and Eve were doing exactly as told and the pressure 2B added to the fray only further ensured the idea of Apollyon turning around and biting his head off to be even more unlikely.

Regardless of that looming possibility clouding his mind and instilling him with fear, Ghiaccio's shouting scared him far more than that demon up ahead. He took a deep breath and moved forward. Arnold kept low as he neared the ongoing struggle, making sure to keep a safe distance from Apollyon.

Even as he clearly did what he was told, Arnold could not escape Ghiaccio's torrent of insults and threats.

" _If you don't start hauling ass, I'm gonna chop you up and feed you to that scaly bastard!_ "

Arnold continued his circling of the battlefield until he finally managed to get himself behind the demon. He ran straight at his target with Cruel Oath pointing forward. He did not have a chance to run Apollyon through. Whether the beast simply knew he was there or pure coincidence, Arnold could not figure out but as he entered Apollyon's range, both of the demon's wings closed in on him, crushing him with unbelievable force.

His breath evacuated his lungs and he promptly fell backward onto the ground. Apollyon launched himself up into the air and dove at Arnold while the boy was still on the ground. This time, no one came to his aid.

Adam and Eve were far too busy saving themselves, 2B was probably far too afraid to intervene given his constant attempts to kill her every time she attempted to offer help, and he knew Robin would most certainly not give him any support after that embarrassing failure.

Arnold was truly on his own this time. He stared at Apollyon with wide eyes while he waited for his inevitable fate. Instinctively, he moved his sword in front of himself, blocking Apollyon's initial attack. Unfortunately, the monster did not relent. He reached forward with his right hand, past Arnold's sword and raked his claws down the boy's face.

* * *

Adam and Eve reacted quickly upon hearing Arnold's screams of distress. Once they themselves were a safe distance away, they decided to act. The two of them launched a wave of their magical light at Apollyon.

They failed just as easily as Arnold in their attempt to catch Apollyon off guard. It was as if the demon had eyes on the back of his head. They at least managed to distract him. Enraged, Apollyon howled as he leaped off of Arnold, dodging their attack in the process. He promptly flew straight at them.

Eve practically threw himself in front of his brother. Any moment Adam was not in combat was a moment Eve savored. He conjured an arc of light to block Apollyon's path. The demon tore through his defenses with ease and tossed a bolt straight at them. A semi-visible bubble of energy surrounded Eve momentarily as it absorbed the bolt, only to throw it right back at Apollyon.

The bolt failed to hit the demon, but it did force Apollyon to back off if but for a microsecond. Adam glanced at Robin who in turn pointed to the area which marked Apollyon's right flank. Light surrounded Adam and within an instant, he had disappeared.

He materialized in the area he was ordered to take up a position in. If Apollyon was able to dodge this next attack, it would only confirm that the demon truly did have eyes in the back of his head.

Adam tested this theory by extending his hand forward, sending a torrent of light toward the monster. For once, he managed to land a hit on his godly opponent. Apollyon smashed into the ground.

Eve wasted no time. Before even Adam could process the results of his attack, Eve was already within arms reach of Apollyon.

This sight caused Adam's stomach to sink into his bowels. At no point could he consider that monster to be weak or unable to fight back. The beast was danger incarnate as far as he was concerned. He screamed for Eve to get back. He shouted at the top of his lungs, but his stubborn brother did not listen.

" _What are you doing, brother!? Get out of there!_ _Don't go near him! Attack from a distance!_ "

Eve could hear his brother's warning. He heard it but he did not listen. Apollyon was on the ground, ready to be executed. The sooner this battle ended, the less time Adam would spend in danger. Ending Apollyon's resistance was all that mattered.

Eve did not go in without taking precaution, however. He sent out a web of lights that floated above the ground, all taking the shape of spears. At a moment's notice, they would all have Apollyon impaled. As he charged forward, he worked at an insane speed to ensure there was no way of escape. He knew there was no possible way to exploit his layout.

In _half_ a moment's notice, Apollyon proved that an exploit was not needed. Eve only saw a glimpse of Apollyon's long tail moving in his path. It sliced through his stomach and disemboweled him as if his synthetic flesh and metal organs were nothing but air.

Eve stopped in his tracks. Blood rushed out of his body, leaving only a deathly chill to haunt his rapidly emptying blood vessels. He looked down ever so slowly and witnessed the massive stream of blood jetting out of his torso. Apollyon did not merely cut open his metallic stomach. He nearly cut Eve in half with one swing of his tail.

Naturally, Eve could no longer manage to stand up on his own. His strength left with his blood. It poured out of him and left him to collapse onto his knees, helpless and filled with agony. The wound burned as if he had been struck by a whip that was dipped in lava mere seconds before making contact with him.

He felt as if flames were about to erupt from his bowels and consume his entire being in never-ending pain. That chilling sensation of having his blood leave his body was soon replaced by this infernal heat.

All of those little spears of light faded the second his strength had left him. His vision began to fade soon after. The dark forest grew darker. Those twinkling turquoise plants were all he could see after a while.

One by one, they faded away like dying stars.

Eve fell face first into the dirt, and he would not rise from death again.

* * *

The sight Eve dying was a satisfying one for Ghiaccio to behold. They were one man down, which was rather annoying, but it at least saved him the time of plotting Eve's death later.

"Well, shit," Ghiaccio giggled. "Between Eve kicking the bucket and Arnold being flat out useless, I'd say we're at a bit of a disadvantage. Whatever will we do?"

Robin stared at the events as they unfolded. Adam was frozen in place, clearly unable to process what had just happened to his brother. Arnold was standing far from Apollyon, looking at the ground with a shameful frown. He did not even seem to notice Eve's death.

With a disappointed roll of his eyes, Robin unsheathed his sword and slowly approached Apollyon. Ghiaccio murmured in his ear after it became blatantly obvious that he intended to deal with this problem himself.

He walked past Adam on his approach. Adam was still standing there, dumbfounded. His usual smirk was gone. Only a pale and horrified expression remained. Robin stopped in front of Adam and glared at him with a cold gaze.

"Are you going to sit there after your brother was cut down by that demon? Are you so spineless? Assist me in wounding this creature. Perhaps we can force it to revive your fallen sibling in exchange for its own life."

"Or just sit on the sidelines like Arnold and watch us kill it outright," Ghiaccio added. "Whatever works for you."

With that said, Robin moved on. Apollyon's wings spread apart as the demon prepared to fly up in the air and charge him from above.

"I'm so sick of all this," Ghiaccio murmured in Robin's right ear. "We're just wasting time and breath on these damn robots. Let's hurry up and kill this monster so we can focus on finishing off everyone else."

* * *

2B was hesitant in getting involved. She kept her distance and observed her enemies as they prepared to fight each other. Of course, fate would not allow her any period of rest. A threatening voice spoke out to her from behind.

" _Worthless goddamn machine!_ "

2B turned in the direction of Arnold's voice out of curiosity more than anything else. She locked eyes with him. The boy stared her down from afar. 2B could not think of a better way to describe Arnold's appearance as anything short of mutilation.

His face was covered in blood and his flesh had been shredded by Apollyon's claws. She could see all of the circuitry hiding just beneath his skin. She gazed at his exposed metal skull. His once youthful and handsome features had quite literally been peeled off.

"Where the hell were you when that thing attacked me!? You should have jumped in between us," Arnold screamed. "Why didn't you help me, _you fucking idiot!?_ "

"And risk getting stabbed in the back," asked 2B. She quickly glanced over her shoulder to see where Apollyon was at. Surprisingly, he had not moved. He and Robin were in a standoff. Both were clearly contemplating the best way to kill the other. 2B took advantage of this opportunity, knowing this moment of peace would not last forever.

"Let me ask you something, what exactly have they been doing to you? There's no way you would just randomly go insane. There's a reason for your insanity and I want to know what it is."

Arnold gave her no answer. That much, she had anticipated and wasted no time waiting to hear an answer that would never come her way.

She glanced at Apollyon before speaking to ensure the beast was not on the verge of decapitating her. She turned back to Arnold and slowly removed her tattered blindfold. At this point, she wore it more for comfort and familiarity as opposed to necessity. Given how torn and ruined it had become over the past few days, she saw no reason to continue wearing it.

"Whatever," she sighed. "I don't have time to deal with your craziness right now." 2B then turned away and headed off in Apollyon's direction.

2B abruptly charged Apollyon with the hope of at least clearing more distance from Arnold before he had a chance to run up and stab her in the back. She was a bit apprehensive about getting too close to Ghiaccio and Robin, but she could at least stand to be next to them given the fact that they showed no signs of being completely unstable like Arnold.

Robin was locked in a defensive posture, forced to shield himself against Apollyon's bolt with his sword while Ghiaccio kept striking at the demon, hoping to land at least one bite on him. Apollyon had enough foresight to not take the serpent's venom lightly.

Apollyon was far too focused on fighting Robin and dodging Ghiaccio's rapid strikes to notice her approach. She saw this happen several times already. Apollyon would appear distracted, someone would rush in to take advantage and be maimed or killed as a result. Regardless, she took the risk, knowing that she would get nowhere by hesitating.

In fear, she closed her eyes as she swung her sword at the demon. Just as quickly as she closed them, her vibrant blue eyes shot open once again in utter disbelief at the feeling of her sword meeting flesh. Apollyon roared in pain.

Naturally, 2B did not stop there. She wanted to make this time worthwhile. It was the first time she managed to land a hit on Apollyon. She dug her sword in deeper, trying to make the wound as grievous as possible. 2B was swatted away like a mere fly by his right wing, but the damage had been done.

Blood gushed from the gash on his back that stretched down across his torso. It came as a surprise to Ghiaccio when Robin did not take advantage of this opportunity to finish this troublesome monster off. The creature was so distracted by pain that running him through the chest would be all too easy. It was the most obvious action to take, and yet, Robin remained perfectly still. He even lowered his sword as if he were totally sure that he would not be attacked now that his guard had been intentionally lowered.

"What the fuck are you doing," Ghiaccio hissed. "Kill him! Do it now!"

"It was her who brought this creature so close to the mansion," Robin reminded him. "Let her deal with this on her own."

Almost on queue, Apollyon twirled around and threw himself at 2B while she was still lying on the ground. He stomped on her torso, knocking the breath right out of her lungs. She gasped in agony as he stomped on her again and again. In a haze of rage and pain, Apollyon picked her up with one hand. He sank his claws underneath her skin and threw her against a tree.

2B slammed into the tree trunk. Her sword flew free from her grasp as she slid down into a helpless sitting position. Another bolt formulated in Apollyon's free hand. Wrathful flames escaped his nostrils. Magma seeped from his lips. His eyes burned an infernal orange as he prepared to end her life once and for all.

The android panicked. She tried to find her sword on the ground while simultaneous keeping her eyes on Apollyon, hoping that she could at least find a way to dodge his next attack, although, that seemed to be an utterly impossible task with his massive foot pressing down on her stomach.

Out of nowhere, at the last possible second when 2B was certain that her life would be ending, a wave of golden light surrounded the demon. It temporarily immobilized him, entangling his arms and preventing him from moving an inch closer to her.

In that moment, 2B felt her fingers touch the handle of her sword. She immediately wrapped her hand around it and took a deep breath while she locked eyes with her tormentor. There he was, helpless before her. She was beginning to think she would never reach this point.

Adam's screaming filled her ears. She could hear him begging for her to spare Apollyon at least until he could bring his brother back to life. She had forgotten up until now that Eve was still dead. 2B's breath hitched in sorrow. Aside from the side they chose, she could not think of a single reason to hold the same ill will against them that she had in the past. They were all trapped in this crazy forest, and those two were some of the only familiar faces she would probably ever come across for her remaining time in this strange new world.

Regardless, 2B knew this would be her only chance to stop Apollyon. She knew disaster awaited her if she failed to do him in now as opposed to trying again later. He was far too strong to be left alone for any length of time. He would either be killed now, or she would risk not only her own eternal torment but ensure the torture of everyone else around her. The decision was clear.

" _Wait! Don't do it!_ "

She ignored Adam's pleas and plunged her sword straight into Apollyon's stomach. The light Adam created to ensnare Apollyon was immediately burnt away as a torrent of fire escaped the demon's mouth.

The fire rose high above her. It dwarfed 2B as it continuously traveled upward, nearly hitting the canopy in its ascent. In this fire, she could just barely make out the silhouettes of thousands of lost souls being melted by his fire. She could see chains binding them together in eternal damnation.

Apollyon flew up into the air in the vain attempt of escaping his fate. He quickly lost his strength to fly and promptly fell back down. Apollyon crashed into the ground. His wings twitched back and forth for a few moments before finally lying still. Perfectly still.

2B did not have time to sit upright before she noticed the tip of Robin's sword pointing straight at her. It was covered with a thin layer of frost. Floating in the air just above the blade were three large and incredibly sharp icicles all aimed at her head.

"Thanks for the help," Ghiaccio mocked her. "Of course, now that he's dead, we really don't need you alive. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure you won't have to die alone. One by one, all of you will kick the bucket."

She wanted to dodge out of the way, but her body refused to move. She could feel every inch of her torso aching from the damage Apollyon inflicted on her. 2B braced herself for death. The sharp crystals of ice rose up higher in the air in preparation to fly forth from his blade and impale her.

Once again, Adam came to her rescue. His light flared up in between them. The icicles smashed into the shield he created for her, shattering like glass on impact.

2B turned to face her savior simultaneously as Robin and Ghiaccio both gave him a murderous glare. He stood in the background, holding his late brother, covered in Eve's blood.

"What the fuck, Adam," Ghiaccio screamed in rage. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"Do you hear them, Arnold," Adam stated, referring to him by that name only because he had forgotten the boy's true designation. "That serpent just admitted it! Everything that android told us earlier was true! My brother did not have to die! They knew he would die. They knew we would all die! Robin probably constructed his strategy entirely around only himself and Ghiaccio surviving!"

Ghiaccio laughed at Adam's accusation. "Sure! Go ahead and blame us because your dip shit brother ran straight at the enemy. That dumbass, Eve, deserved to die for pulling some stupid shit like that!"

"Do you hear him, Arnold," 2B shouted. At this point, she had no idea where Arnold actually was. She was too busy watching Robin's movements. "These two don't care if you live or die. They aren't your friends. They never were and they never will be. They're using you just like they used Eve. Do you want to end up like him, because if you continue to follow them then that is exactly what will happen."

"Oh, piss off," Ghiaccio said with a dismissive sigh. "Can you believe this, Robin? I haven't smelled this much bullshit in a long time."

"They are correct about one thing," Robin stated. That response came as surprise to Ghiaccio, but he did not interrupt his favorite companion.

Robin turned in Arnold's direction. He stood a fair distance behind Adam. He noticed the damage that Apollyon had done to his face. Much of his cybernetic interior had been revealed, disproving the point Robin was about to make but it mattered not.

"We want all of these monsters dead," Robin informed. "Isn't that right, Arnold? I entrusted you with the task of cleansing or manor of these abominations."

"You told us the exact same thing," Adam retorted. "You told us that Arnold was useless to you and you want us to kill him. I wish I had realized it earlier. You want us all to kill each other. Why? I cannot figure out your motives but the 'why' hardly matters now."

* * *

Adam averted his attention down to the lifeless body in his arms. His brother's glassy eyes stared back up at him. Gently, Adam knelt down to the ground. He rested his brother's corpse in the same spot where it had originally fallen.

"If only I had enough foresight," Adam whispered to his late sibling. "I'll be seeing you again soon."

Adam rose up off the ground. As he took up his usual posture, something sharp pierced his back. He had no time to react, let alone realize what had just happened. Cold steel ripped through his spine and penetrated his heart. It burst forth from his sternum and glimmered under the forest's neon light.

He stared down at his chest to see a blade sticking out of him. Suddenly, it was ripped forth from his body. Blood erupted from the wound. He slowly collapsed to his knees. A dark figure ran past him in that moment.

Adam watched as his attacker ran toward Robin and Ghiaccio. He caught one last glimpse of Arnold as the boy glanced over his shoulder and peered at him with hateful eyes. Adam fell on top of his brother.

He would be joining Eve far sooner than he had anticipated.

* * *

2B watched this all transpire. She still remained on the ground but she had at least gotten herself into a position in which she could dodge the next oncoming attack. It was a useful opportunity, indeed, now that there was no one else who would be willing to help her.

Ghiaccio laughed at the sight of Adam's death. He cheered Robin on, finally giving him a bit of praise after so much berating.

"Good job, buddy! Looks like we misjudged you. I guess we can leave you to finish off the last of these robots."

Robin slowly started walking away when Ghiaccio said that. His back was turned which meant it was the perfect opportunity for 2B to strike.

"Kill her," Ghiaccio ordered. "Meet us back a the mansion when you..."

Ghiaccio's demand was cut off when he looked back only to see 2B lunging straight for them. He was just on the verge of warning Robin to turn around when Arnold slid in between them. He blocked her path and locked swords with her.

The sound of clicking metal caught Robin's attention, although, he did not look too surprised by what he saw when turned back.

"Don't worry about this worthless automaton," Arnold insisted in an all too confident tone. "I'll deal with it from here. See you back at the mansion."

"Yeah," Ghiaccio replied. "Whatever you say."

* * *

The moment they left, 2B slid away from Arnold. She was growing more and more annoyed with him. However, Arnold was not ready to take any sort of a break. He charged forward only to meet her sword yet again.

He struggled to hold her back. He assumed her strength must be a result of her being an android. None the less, he fought on.

"If only I had a mirror," 2B muttered over the sound of their swords clashing together repeatedly. "If only I could make you see what lies beneath your skin. I wonder if you would still try to deny the fact that you're just like me."

"When will you give up trying to convince me of that shit," Arnold inquired with a vile hiss. "I'm not some horrid abomination like you! I was born from this forest. I'm human, but I guess a robot such as yourself could never fully understand me. We are two totally different creatures, after all."

"Goddammit," 2B snarled back. "You're not human! Just find a reflective surface and tell me if you're human or not! Go on, just try it! I think I see a few puddles over there if you wish to see for yourself."

2B had left an opening during her little rant. Arnold immediately took advantage and tried to cut her down. He missed her torso but he at least managed to give her a nice gash on her right thigh.

At that moment, 2B finally snapped. Whether it was the sting of being cut, Arnold's constant arguing, or if all of the stress induced by this insane forest had been building up for far too long, she could not say.

Suddenly, with all her might, she kicked Arnold in his stomach. She sent the boy flying back where he slammed into a tree. As he tried to regain his composure, she quickly approached him just to grab him by his collar and slam him against the tree again.

She dropped her sword when Arnold slid down onto the ground in the exact same helpless position Apollyon put her mere minutes ago. 2B straddled him, preventing the kid from attempting to squirm free.

Arnold braced for the worst. He screamed at her in anger, demanding that she abandon her own advantage.

"Get off me you wench! _I'll tear your heart out of your..._ "

2B leaned in close to him as he spat those vile threats at her. She ignored his yelling and wrapped her hands around his throat. She slowly tightened her grip on his neck, cutting off his threat before he could finish yelling. She just wanted a little silence and she saw no other way to achieve her desire.

Arnold began choking and gasping for air. His once wrathful expression faded into a look of genuine fear. He stared into her murderous eyes. He slapped her arms and shoulders and flailed around trying to get her off. He tried begging not to be killed but he was unable to speak.

Tears welled in his eyes and rained down his mutilated cheeks. Despite all of this, 2B did not relent. She was so tired of listening to the boy's ravings about his delusions.

"Shut up," she told him. Her face contorted with frustration as she spoke to him. "Keep your mouth shut. Let me talk. Just shut up and let me talk!"

Her hands tightened more and more. Arnold was inching closer to death and she refused to let him go.

She fully intended to keep choking him until he had finally learned his lesson.


	12. Epitaph

**Epitaph**

Rain poured down from the sky and trickled through the canopy. It smashed down on Arnold's synthetic flesh. His vision was fading fast. His lungs were deprived of oxygen. He could barely keep himself conscious.

Just as hope seemed to be totally lost on him, 2B's grip abruptly loosened up. Arnold opened his left and took a peek at her softening expression. He did not question her change of mind nor did he even worry about trying to catch his breath. With all of the strength his oxygen-deprived body could muster, Arnold landed a punch on her left cheek. She was promptly sent tumbling off of him.

He grasped at the ground for his sword, but all Arnold managed to pick up in the heat of the moment was a rather sizable rock. Arnold refused to let his advantage go to waste. He leaned forward and struck her with the rock multiple times. All the while, Arnold coughed and gasped for more air.

For the literal second 2B had to come back to her senses, she managed to have her cold, artificial heart weighed down by a considerable amount of guilt before she felt a stone strike her face. The feeling of having her head bashed with a rock was enough to remind 2B that the fight was still not over, and it probably would not end until one or both parties were either dead or incapacitated.

Reacting quickly, 2B kicked Arnold with all of her strength and sent him stumbling backward. She immediately stood upright and darted away from the crazed boy.

"Alright, calm down," she pleaded as she held her bleeding nose. "We can still work this out peacefully."

"You say right after you try to choke me to death," Arnold shrieked back. He threw the rock down and picked up his sword in preparation to mutilate her according to Robin's orders.

Any doubt he may have had about cutting off her limbs and dragging her across the forest had since been replaced with an overwhelming desire to torment her in the most painful ways he could dream up.

* * *

It did not take long at all for Robin and Ghiaccio to return to the mansion. Ghostly shadows danced around the windows and just out of Robin's sight as he approached the old three-story home.

As always, the door opened with a loud creak. The blue light radiating throughout the forest flooded into the entrance hall for as long as it took Robin to step inside and slam the door shut again, plunging the mansion back into familiar darkness.

"Home, sweet home," Ghiaccio said with a sigh of relief. "It's been quite an adventure, hasn't it?"

"An unnecessarily long and painful adventure," Robin added. "But an adventure none the less."

"Okay, so I was wrong for once," Ghiaccio snarled back, picking up on Robin's not so subtle message. "Had we have just either left the kid to rot or hacked his head off when we found him, we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble."

"I told you someone would come looking for him," Robin said for what Ghiaccio assumed was about the millionth time. "I knew this kind of thing would happen."

Ghiaccio's eyes widened in bewilderment. He almost seemed appalled by Robin's response. "How the hell was I suppose to know that a robot dominatrix in a maid costume would come looking for her lost boy toy!? Now, Robin, I don't know what the norms are in the world you come from, but here, that shit doesn't exactly happen every day!"

"It was still a bad idea. We both knew it would end this way. I seem to recall you going so far as to brainstorm different ways to kill him while I dragged him through the forest."

After making his argument, Robin extended his arm toward the wooden railing where Ghiaccio used it as a bridge. When the serpent left his arm and coiled up on the rail, Robin started off for the stairs.

" _Hey_ ," Ghiaccio snapped, almost sarcastically. "I was trying to do a good deed! That was me being charitable."

Robin merely glanced over his shoulder and murmured back his response just before disappearing into the next room.

"You and good deeds do not seem to mix."

* * *

2B fended off Arnold's constant attacks. He seemed to give little heed to tactical prowess and favored brute strength and the seductive prospect of butchery above all else. Naturally, she had the upper hand against the scanner model.

Getting bashed in the head with a large rock a few times did work wonders to bring 2B back down to reality and snap her out of her blind rage. She was once again left acting as the only peaceable side to a fight which would undoubtedly not end without at least one party dying.

"Goddammit, Nines! Try to remember," she shouted over the violent thrashing of their unending melee. "Machines! Aliens! YoRHa! We're both androids! That snake and his sidekick are using you! For what? I don't know but they definitely intend to kill you."

Arnold slid away from 2B and smiled at her. It was a mocking smile. He looked at her as if she were mad. The idea of Robin and Ghiaccio plotting to kill him was comical at best. This conspiracy theory coming from the woman who tried to strangle him to death not but five minutes ago was even more hilarious.

"Right my lifelong friends who gave me a home and food are trying to murder me whereas the psychotic robot standing in front of me would never do such a… Oh wait, you just did. Do you really think I'm so stupid as to listen to you?"

She could not exactly argue with that logic. Losing her temper did not seem to do her any favors in the long run. It was almost as if trying to strangle someone to death was not an effective way to persuade them. Who would have thought?

"Can you at least do one thing for me," 2B inquired after an idea came to her. "Tell me all that you remember. Start from the beginning. What do you remember?"

To her surprise, Arnold lowered his weapon. He actually seemed willing to at least entertain her with an actual answer as opposed to shouting profanities at her as was his normal reaction as of late.

"I woke up in the mansion," Arnold informed. "Ghiaccio was looming over me the whole time. He and Robin greeted me and asked me who I was. I told them I didn't know, but then they said that they recognized me. They couldn't be sure at first, but after talking it over privately, they realized who I was. Isn't it a wonderful coincidence? According to them, I was lost for years in the forest and then I just randomly turned up near their favorite fishing spot."

"Yeah, what a coincidence," 2B agreed with some not so subtle sarcasm. "Anyway, I know you're probably ready to cut my head off right now, but I just ask you wait a little longer for that and answer me this. Before giving you your name, did they ever go off to the side or leave to another room?"

"They went to the kitchen," Arnold answered. "I guess they wanted to be sure it was me before they said anything."

"Oh, I'm sure," she said with a roll of her eyes. "What did they have you do on a day to day basis? What exactly were you up to before I found you."

"Mostly housework," he admitted. "I've kept the place in working order. Kept out all of the overgrowth and I've tried to keep everything as clean as possible."

2B nodded her head. That was about what she had expected. After judging the way he was often treated by them, she had a feeling he was never entrusted with any important tasks. That is if they even had important tasks to do in the first place. Even after these encounters with the residents of the mansion, she was still confused about what exactly any of them did aside from laze around.

"So, they enslaved you and forced you to do menial labor? I had a feeling you'd say something like that. Look, I'm not going to keep arguing with you over this and I definitely don't want to kill you over a psychotic snake and his lackey. I don't care about that creepy mansion either. I'm not asking you to remember anything, Nines… er, whatever your name is now."

" _Arnold_ ," he shouted furiously.

It was not that hard to remember. He began wondering 2B was just doing that to irritate him. If so, then it was working.

2B ignored his reaction and continued on despite the interruption. "Whatever. I don't expect you to come along with me. I guess I can't blame you if you don't want to, but I'm not going to let you go back to that mansion where you'll be killed."

"Funny, all of a sudden you care if I live or die," Arnold retorted. "Well, at any rate, if you want to prevent me from going home without killing me then you're going to have to chop my legs off."

She looked as if she were about to respond to him, but he did not care to hear her drone on any longer. He picked up his sword and charged forward. One of them would die today. That much he knew for certain.

* * *

Robin and Ghiaccio lounged around in the dining room while the fighting raged on outside. Ghiaccio bit down on a coin that he had found lying on the table. He placed it back on the table in front of him as he prepared to make an announcement.

"Alright, I'm bored so let's make a bet," he ordered. "Who do you think will make it back alive?"

"That woman," Robin said without so much as a moment of consideration.

As useless as Arnold often was in Ghiaccio's eyes, even he was surprised by the response. "Really? You don't think our boy's got at least a tiny chance of survival?"

"No," Robin proclaimed flatly.

"Alright, then the bet is on! I'll put my money on Arnold," Ghiaccio replied with growing confidence. He bit down on the coin and with a quick jerk of his head, sent it spiraling up into the air. " _Call it_ ," he ordered.

"Heads," Robin firmly stated.

The two watched with ever-increasing anticipation as the coin fell back down toward the table. Oddly enough, it landed on neither side. The coin was caught in a crease in the wood and remained stuck on its side.

Ghiaccio and Robin stared silently at the coin in confusion for a few seconds before Robin suddenly grew concerned over the matter.

He glanced at Ghiaccio and murmured to him. "Something just occurred to me," he quietly informed. "We don't have any money so what are we supposed to bet on?"

* * *

2B dodged yet another one of Arnold's strikes. His sword sliced through the trunk of the tree behind her, putting a nice gash into the wood. In a bizarre turn of events, both Arnold and 2B were forced to retreat from the tree when it started spraying a strange liquid from the wound it received from Arnold's blade.

The liquid was easily identifiable. The tree was quite literally bleeding on them. It was as if Arnold had slit the tree's jugular and now massive volumes of blood were being sprayed everywhere. Suddenly, he and his opponent could hear a loud, bloodcurdling scream.

Whatever remaining doubts 2B had about this forest being some ethereal prison for damned souls were firmly dismantled as she looked onto this illogical sight with horror. She could make out the features of an ever-twisting face engraved in the bark.

Arnold was quick to use that distraction to his advantage. He would contemplate the horrific sight later. In that very moment, however, he lashed out at 2B while her attention was still averted from him.

He charged her and wildly swung his sword in her direction. It took everything 2B had just to keep her head from being hacked off by that lunatic. Nothing she said was getting through to him, and in such an unfamiliar environment, it was not like there was anything she could use as a trigger to unlock some of his lost memories.

Then it hit her. If only she had her pod with her. Although the more the fight dragged on, the more 2B kept mentally asking the same question.

" _Could I hack into his systems without my pod? It's not like he could defend himself against something like that. He probably no longer even has an understanding of the word._ "

She tried to clear some distance before attempting this new idea, however, Arnold was relentless. He kept advancing and hacking away at her. He managed to give her a few gashes in the process.

As 2B continued to fight just to regain a little bit of personal space, she noticed some brush moving out of the corner of her eye. She did not dare attempt to take a longer glance at whatever was going on in the background as doing so would be a quick way to get herself killed.

To her surprise, Arnold suddenly stopped swinging his sword. With all the force he could muster, he pressed down on her sword and held his position.

"I'll make you a deal," he stated. Hearing those words made 2B feel as if she were hallucinating. Diplomacy with Arnold of all people? Was the world coming to an end? Despite how suspicious this was starting to sound, she listened closely to his offer.

"Ghiaccio and Robin want something from you, witch. The bomb. Give me the bomb and I'll stop fighting. I'll tell them that I cut it out of you and buried you in a shallow grave. So long as we never see your face again, I don't care what you do."

"Bomb," asked 2B. "What? What bomb?"

"The Black Box or whatever you robots call it," Arnold retorted in an increasingly hostile tone. "Don't play dumb with me, I know you have one!"

2B was far more astonished that he even knew about it. She wondered if there was hope for him yet. In an absolute last ditch effort to trigger at least one memory, any memory at all, she held up her free hand and showed it to him.

A strange, almost ethereal black cube formulated out of thin air. He stared at the thing with unexpected awe. He felt as though he had seen it before, but he knew it was impossible. He also found it strange that such a small device could apparently cause such massive destruction. None the less, this was exactly what he was looking for. Now, if only he could just acquire the little bomb and be on his way.

" _That's it_ ," he hissed. "Give it to me! Give me the bomb!"

She gritted her teeth in frustration and shouted back at him. "For the last time, it's not a bomb!"

Her yelling went unheard. For no apparent reason, Arnold suddenly turned his head. He glared at a line of shrubs on the far side of the clearing. "Who's there," he shouted at nothing in particular.

2B was surprised to find that she was not the only one who was seeing things out of the corner of her eye. Someone or something was definitely out there, watching them.

Nothing but silence reigned for a few passing seconds before Arnold yelled at the wall of vegetation once more. "I know you're hiding out there so just show yourself!"

There was a stirring in the brush. Moments later, a rather shady figure emerged from hiding. They both identified this stranger to be a woman. Long pitch black hair and a dark purple cape. She wore a strange outfit underneath that cape. A black outfit with decorative golden bands around her ankles, thighs, waist, wrists, and a golden tiara to top it off.

She hid the lower half of her face behind a large book. Her eyes were veiled by a shadow cast upon them by her bangs. None the less, both Arnold and 2B knew they were being glared at rather intensely.

Nobody said anything for the longest time. 2B and Arnold were still trying to figure out just how long this odd looking girl had been watching them and more importantly, why?

"You actually noticed me," the stranger finally spoke out in a quiet tone. She turned toward 2B and mustered a weak yet sinister smile. "While I'm not entirely sure why you two want to kill each other so badly, and I do apologize for interrupting that, but I need to know where I can find my beloved. Just point me in his direction and I'll be on my way."

"What are you talking about," Arnold snapped. "Who are you?"

The woman turned to face him. Her hair moved at the right time and he was able to catch a small glimpse of her eyes. This sight only made her all the more intimidating. There was something about her that was unsettling to say the absolute least. What it was, Arnold could not say, but he could not deny the feeling.

"Tharja," she answered calmly, almost coldly. "I'm lost. I woke up underneath a tree and cannot figure out where I am. Not that it matters though because I heard you speak his name multiple times already. Had you not have been talking about him so much, I probably would have passed right on by."

She hesitated for a moment and seemed to stare off into oblivion while she collected her next series of thoughts. "I was hoping to stay hidden for a little while longer. After all, I wanted to make sure you were referring to the same man I'm looking for. I don't care who you are or what you're fighting over, I just want you to point me in his direction. I'll ask you both one more time. Where is my husband? Where is Robin?"

Arnold froze in place. Was it a coincidence? Were they simply talking about a different Robin? Never once had the name Tharja ever been mentioned back at the mansion. Regardless, here this woman was after coming out of seemingly nowhere and making such claims. Naturally, Arnold glared at her, displaying nothing but hostile intent.

This strange woman's expression went without wavering. The fact that she did not appear in the least bit intimidated made the situation all the more infuriating for him.

"Prove it," he ordered. Arnold pointed at 2B with his sword as he continued to bark out orders. "Prove it or I'll see to it that you suffer the same fate as that bucket of rusted bolts over there!"

Tharja casually leaned against a tree and coldly stared him down. "I've got nothing to prove to you. I don't care if you believe me or not, but you have information that I need, so spit it out. Where is he?"

"What kind of wife wouldn't know where her husband lives," Arnold accusingly questioned. "I've lived with Robin and Ghiaccio my entire life at that mansion and they've never mentioned you. I've never even seen you. For all I know, you're just another pile of scrap that needs to be dealt with."

While a lot of what this little maniac was saying did not make a lick of sense to her, Tharja found herself intrigued by it.

"Robin and I do not live in a mansion, unfortunately," she said in a flat tone. "Never have and probably never will. As for you and this Ghiaccio person, well, I've never heard of either of you, and I keep tabs on everyone he interacts with on daily basis."

2B seized the opportunity to chime in. This was far too good to be true. At long last, someone who could potentially deal a crushing blow to this delusional past Arnold believed in so fanatically.

"Tell me, are you from around here? You, Lucina, Robin? Were you all born in this forest?"

Tharja furrowed a curious brow at this sudden spike in enthusiasm from an otherwise mute and emotionless presence. None the less, she gave 2B the exact answer she was looking for.

"Of course, not," she said dismissively as if 2B was somehow supposed to know this for a fact. "I'm from Plegia. Robin was too, apparently. Well, before he lost his memory and wound up across the border into Ylisse for some odd reason. Anyway, to make long... _long_ story short, I followed him around until he finally married me. The end."

"So you weren't born in this forest," asked 2B. Tharja firmly shook her head to confirm her suspicion one last time.

"And neither was Robin?"

As expected, 2B's question was answered with a single, silent nod.

"What do you know about this forest? How long have you been here?"

"Hard to say how long I've been lost out here," Tharja admitted. "Awhile back, I suddenly woke up underneath a tree with my memory in shambles. My mind has been drawing blanks on so many events in my past. I do remember one thing clearly, though, and that's my time spent with _him_."

2B stared at Arnold. All she could see was the back of his head, but she knew he had fallen quiet for a reason. If he still persists in his beliefs after having heard that little speech then Tharja then she would probably just give up.

So much time passed before Arnold found the courage to say anything. His silence only prompted 2B to conclude the point she was trying to illustrate with all of these questions that she knew would be answered honestly.

"Do you get it now," she coldly inquired. "You're not human, Nines… er, 9S. Hey? Don't you remember? You always liked that name."

2B briefly paused as she realized that she was being sidetracked. "Look. Aside from an old ghost, I haven't encountered a single human that has truly claimed to be born here. Robin, her, and Lucina are all in the same boat we are. We've all been trapped here somehow. Some of our memories have been lost in the process. In your case, all of your memories. They probably found you at random one day, scrapped you off the forest floor, made up some half-ass lie about being lifelong friends, and then they put you to work. That's all."

Arnold finally made his response. He slowly turned toward 2B with furious tears welling in his eyes. He stabbed his sword into the ground and placed both hands over his face. His fingers dug into the gashes left by Apollyon's claws. Fresh blood flowed freely from them as he tightened his grip on his own flesh.

"I'm not a robot," he desperately murmured. " _I'm not a goddamn robot!_ "

In one last attempt to prove his claim, his identity, he dragged his fingers downward, further opening his wounds in the process. His wounds stretched, expanded, and tore even further. More and more blood tinkled as he tore at his own flesh.

Steadily, his face began to peel from his metallic skull. 2B was utterly paralyzed in shock. All she could do was watch him tear off his own face. He could not help but scream in agony as the pain became totally unbearable. Regardless, he persisted just to prove the point.

Then came a point where he simply could not handle it anymore. He released what little skin still stubbornly clung to his skull. The kid collapsed to his knees and sat there in silence, crying to himself as he dealt with the pain he had brought only upon himself.

2B only fully wrapped her brain around his actions when it was done and over with. She did not quite understand what she was even looking at until it was all said and done. She was far too disturbed to so much as ask if he was 'okay.' A question she already knew the answer to in the first place.

Suddenly, he lashed out with his sword in hand. However, this time, he did not go for 2B. He charged Tharja. In the split second it happened, 2B noticed a cruel, twisted smile taking shape on Tharja's face.

She immediately lunged for Arnold, knowing full well that Tharja would not tolerate his aggression. That diabolical grin was proof enough that she had no intention of showing any mercy.

All the while, Tharja stood there, leaning against the tree. She was surprised to see how much strength the boy actually had after _skinning_ himself.

"9S," 2B desperately called out. "Don't go near her!"

Arnold failed to heed her warning, and he would suffer the consequences for it. Tharja did not move. She had no reason to. She simply stood there and waited for him to get just a little bit closer. As he advanced, she held up a clenched fist to her lips and slowly opened her palm. Tharja calmly blew a strange purple dust straight into Arnold's face.

He stopped the moment he breathed in this odorless substance. His vision almost immediately doubled. He started seeing two, then three Tharja's. She remained still even though her image was dancing across his peripherals.

In disorientation, he collapsed to his knees and was once again put on the ground. He watched her as she turned and walked away. All he could see from this angle was her feet. To him, it looked as if she had two sets of legs. In the background, the entire forest swirled and moved unnaturally. It only made him dizzier.

"Well, this was a total waste of time," Tharja spoke out coldly. "Whatever, I'll find him myself. In the meantime, I'll let you two go back to killing each other."

Arnold forced himself back onto his feet. He knew he could not let her escape. He could not let either of them escape. He gripped his sword and while swaying back and forth, swung it around wildly.

Even if he could no longer fight, he would still refuse to yield. He got back on his feet. Tharja was nowhere to be seen. He could still see 2B, or at least, what looked like 2B standing in the opposite direction. The whole forest was spinning for him at this point.

Out of desperation to kill something, he charged 2B once again. Arnold ignored her shouting, not that he could hear what she was saying while under the influence of this mysterious substance.

Despite losing all sense, Arnold cleared the distance in no time. However, the sudden sting of cold steel piercing his flesh caused him to come to a dead stop. He gasped and coughed up a fair bit of blood.

And just like that, his fight was finally over.

* * *

Rows and rows of graves surrounded Lucina. She stared down at the eroding stones that marked the location of a corpse buried somewhere beneath them.

She heard footsteps approaching her from behind. It was hard not to hear even the quietest of disturbances in this eerie town. Lucina turned to face Lyn as he approached. A forced smile overshadowed the woman's eternal despair.

"Leaving?"

Lucina nodded. "I probably should have left with 2B. I just hope nothing bad has happened yet."

"I'm sure whatever pain was destined for her has already been inflicted," Lyn retorted in a hopeless tone. "I'm sorry to say, but nothing good ever happens in this forest. Especially when that snake is involved. You might as well stay here. At least you might live longer if you choose to stay."

"Thanks for the advice, but I'll choose to cling to whatever hope I have left of getting out of here."

"Why do want to go back," asked Lyn. A question that surprised Lucina. "You told me your old home was doomed. Some terrible dragon was destined to burn everything to the ground. If you stay here, you will never have to worry about such an awful thing."

"Why ask such a question," Lucina murmured after a long period of silence. She turned her back and headed toward the town. "You should already know the answer to that."

* * *

2B held her stance and kept her grip on her sword. She looked on in astonishment at Arnold. He made no attempt to block her sword. He most likely did not even know it was there when he ran straight into it.

His entire body was being supported by her sword. They were so close they might as well have been embracing. His head rested on her shoulder. All the fight left in him had finally faded away. For once, he was quiet. For once, he remained perfectly still.

She listened to his breathing. It was a slow, painful pattern. While she held onto him, Arnold stared at his own reflection in the growing pool of blood beneath them both. Not his own blood, but the massive stream of blood that flowed freely from that wounded tree.

He smiled at the exposed metal skull beneath his torn flesh.

He meekly spoke into her ear. " _..._ _2B..._ "

She listened carefully to his whispers.

"I guess you were right," he continued softly. "I thought I was better than you. After you showed up, they kept telling me that I was more than a machine. All the while, I kept thinking how familiar you, Adam, and Eve all were. Now, I remember. YoRHa. You. Adam and Eve."

His words suddenly became more bitter as he listed off one final detail. " _That bitch A2…_ I'm not sure if it's that purple powder she threw in my face or the sword in my gut, but something just jogged these memories. 9S was the original owner of this body. I suppose that's who you've been searching for all along. Well, sorry to say, but I think he'll be leaving this world with me."

"Just stop talking," 2B ordered. "You're not going anywhere!"

"It sounds crazy," Arnold calmly spoke out, ignoring 2B's demands yet again. "But I just don't see myself and 9S to be the same person. I don't know him very well, but from what I can gather from these memories. One thing is obvious to me, though..."

As he elaborated further, Arnold placed his hand on 2B's shoulder and slowly pushed himself off of her sword. The only thing that kept his blood inside his body. She tried to hold onto him, but she ultimately failed.

"9S loved you. That much I know for certain."

Arnold promptly slid off of her sword. Blood sprayed freely from his torso as he fell. He landed on his back.

Death was instantaneous.

* * *

 _Note: Okay, so the thing about 9S ripping off his own face. That scene was one of the first to have been planned out for this story, and ironically, it was almost cut. I was going to replace it with a separate event entirely, but this was worth it... I think._


End file.
